StarFox: Revenge
by Rogue101
Summary: They tortured me. They experimented on me. Turned me into this...monster. Now I am free, I will hunt them down and let nothing stand in my way. I am Fox McCloud, and I will have my revenge.
1. The Facility

**Here is my second fan-fic, I still think it is going to be shit, but that's for you to decide. So read what's here so far and say what you think. Warning: I will be turning up the violence and gore in this story latter on. (Only if people think it's worth to continue)**

Chapter 1: The Facility

Screams of agony echoed through the dark corridors. Screams of patients suffering from the worst forms of torture and experiments ever known. But they were all too common for the prisoners here, but still it poured fear into them. Soldiers would come to the prison, collect several prisoners, and take them away; they would be tortured or experimented on, then returned to their cells.

Three soldiers were walking through one of the corridors; black armour would have hid them in the darkness if it weren't for their glowing red lenses, the prisoners backed away from their cell doors or screamed at them, as they walked past. They eventually stopped in front of one cell, on the door in red was: 313.

'Are you sure about this?' asked a nervous Private.

'The "Doctor" said he wanted Prisoner 52948!' replied the Corporal.

'But..."he" is Prisoner 52948.'

'PULL YOUR FUCKING SELF TOGETHER! We're lucky enough not to be collecting from "The Vault".'

The Corporal opened the door to the dark cell, inside was a small bed, a bucket and a roll toilet paper. Curled up on the bed, was an orange vulpine in a tattered and bloody, black prison jumpsuit with a large collar around his neck.

'Get up!' boomed the Corporal.

The vulpine didn't move, the Corporal pointed at one of the Privates, then at the vulpine. The Private walked over and reached out to the vulpine. Suddenly, the vulpine grabbed his arm and punched him in the face. The vulpine got up and threw the Private into the wall as the second one pounced onto his back. The vulpine grabbed him, pulled him over the top of his head and slammed him into the ground. Suddenly, he felt an electrical shock pulse through his body from his collar; he dropped to the ground while holding his collar and looked at the Corporal, who was holding a type of remote.`

'Ha ha! I like the fact that you still have some fight in you, Fox McCloud, but it will do you no good.' Said the Corporal. 'Pick him up!'

The two Privates picked up themselves up them, then lifted Fox by the arms and dragged him out of the cell and down the corridor. They walked through dark corridors of the prison until they reached a lift, they walked inside and the Corporal pressed a button. The lift jolted as it moved upwards. It climbed several floors before it came to a sudden stop, the doors opened and Fox was nearly blinded by the bright light.

Fox's eyes began to adjust as he was dragged along, when they had adjusted; he saw he was being dragged along a grey, brightly lit corridor, with doors to laboratories and store rooms on both sides. Men and women in white lab coats and pale blue jumpsuits walked up and down, entering and exiting rooms. Fox was dragged past a reflective container; he looked at it to see a battered reflection of his face, there were large bruises and cuts all over, some were still bleeding, there was a scar cut across his left eye, and another across the right side of his mouth.

Eventually, they stopped in front of a pair of double doors, above them, written in red was: Lab-285. The doors opened to reveal a male ape, wearing a long, white, blood stained lab coat, bloody gloves and a white mask over his mouth.

'Ah, Prisoner 52948, or should I call you Fox?' he asked coldly.

Fox couldn't answer, but he knew what was coming next. The ape pointed towards a table in the centre of barely lit room, surrounded by different devices and computers, but the most terrifying thing was a stand with a device on top, which had several needles sticking out of one end. The soldiers dragged him to the table, picked him up and strapped him to the table.

'Wait outside!' said the Doctor.

The soldiers turned around and walked out the doors. Fox looked around; other scientists were looking at the devices and computers. Some were attaching several straps to him, which had wires sticking out from them and were attached to a machine, along with some needles and sensors. Suddenly, the doors opened and two people, in grey protective clothing that covered them from head to toe, entered with, a large metal create between them. Fox had an idea of what was inside, but wished it wasn't.

They opened the create, a cloud of white mist flowed out as they pulled out a large metal cylinder, a yellow chemical could be seen inside because of some glass on the container, on it, written in black: Chemical X108. Fox began to struggle as they carried it over to the device with needles, they placed it inside the stand, removed the lid, placed a lid that had several small pipes sticking out of it and leading up to the device. Fox continued to struggle against the straps, when a sudden shock shot through his body.

'Don't struggle McCloud,' hissed the Doctor, 'you will only make the pain worse, oh who am I kidding? It will be just as bad, ha ha ha!'

Fox growled as the Doctor ordered one of the scientists to move the needle device, called an Injector, right beside him. He watched as the device was moved right next to the table, the scientist, a white husky, looked at a small screen behind it. She pressed a few buttons on a keyboard below it, and the device lifted up on an arm, moved over the middle of his torso and turned down to him. She pressed a few more keys and some of the needles shot on arms and moved to certain spots above his body, two were over his upper chest, four over his arms, two over his hips, four over his legs, one over each of his foot and two over his face, while five remained where they were.

Fox looked up at the needles, and then towards the scientist, she turned to face him. She walked around the table until she was behind his head; she bent down to him, avoiding the needles. She then pressed her lips against his and forced her tongue into his mouth. She soon pulled back and looked at him again.

'Such a same,' she said bluntly, 'you would have been good to fuck!'

She walked around to the injector, while Fox looked at her with disgust. She began to press more buttons. The needles moved down towards Fox, the two by his face stopped each side of his muzzle and turned 90 degrees to face his muzzle.

'Activate the tank.' ordered the Doctor.

The husky pressed more buttons and the yellow chemical flowed out of the tank, along the tubes and into the syringes at the ends.

'Commence the experiment.' Order the Doctor again.

The needles shot straight into Fox and began to inject the chemical into him. Fox yelled in pain of the needles piercing his flesh, and as the chemical entered into him, he felt it burn him from the inside. He began to shake from the pain.

'Heart rate is increasing rapidly, Doctor.' Said a green lizard.

'Begin sampling and analysing blood.' Replied the Doctor.

'Doctor, 10% of X108 has been injected and increasing.' Reported the husky.

'Increase injection rate.'

Fox felt more burning as the chemical poured into him; he gritted his teeth and shook more violently as he it poured into him. He didn't hear the scientist clearly over the pain, but he was able to hear little parts of the conversations over it.

'25% injection of X108 and increasing.'

'Brian patterns show strong reactions towards X108.' Said a snow leopard.

'Prepare for Electro-Enhanced Reaction Process.'

Fox struggled to keep himself from going insane because of the pain, he had suffered from similar experiments but this one was the worst so far. The pain was beyond unbearable, but there was one thing in his mind that was holding him together.

'50% injection of X108 and increasing.'

'Electro-Enhanced Reaction Process ready Doctor.' Said a red eagle.

'Commence the process.'

The eagle pressed a few buttons and then turned a dial. Blots of electricity ran across the wires and spread all over Fox's body. Fox roared in pain as the electricity pulsed through every part of his body. He shook in such an aggressive manner that he might have broken free from his straps.

'100% injection of X108.'

'Fully reaction of X108 and Subjects body.'

'Cut power! Remove the injector.'

Fox felt the electricity disappear and the needles remove themselves from his body. He stopped shaking. He tried to look around, but he didn't have the strength. He felt the scientist remove straps on his body, he then heard the Doctor call for the Soldiers to come back in. The soldiers walked over to him and pulled him off the table. Fox hit the ground hard with a thud, he tried to pick himself up but he couldn't. The two Privates picked him up, dragged him out of the lab and down the corridors towards his cell.

'That is the 16th chemical we have injected into him,' reported the Doctor. 'Prepare for another field test to make sure it has had no effect on his other abilities.'

The Corporal opened the door to Fox's cell and the Privates chucked him inside. Fox hit the ground as they closed and locked the door. With what little strength he had, Fox crawled over to his bed and climbed in. His body ached as he closed his eyes. But he was unable to sleep; the memory of how he came here haunted his mind.

**Flashback**

Cornerian forces were engaged in a heated battle with Venom forces over Venoms orbit. Intel had confirmed that remnants of Andross' forces were regrouping at Venom in massive numbers. Clearly, they had to be gotten rid of, Star Fox had been hired to help Cornerian forces do the job. Unfortunately, despite being smaller in numbers, Venom forces had been outfitted more advanced weaponry than ever, so Corneria was forced to send nearly its entire fleet to meet them.

Star Fox flew along the hull of a Venomian Battlecruiser and bombed out its mid-section, causing the ship to split into two halves. Several squadrons of Arwings flew behind the team as they flew deeper into the Venomian fleet. They flew past a Cornerian Cruiser as it exploded from heavy fire from another Battlecruiser, debris sprayed in all directions, the fighters divided to avoid it. Some were hit by the debris, while others were hit by laser fire and missiles, the rest were able to pass with their lives.

'Man, can't these bitches just take a hint? They keep on coming, and we keep on beating.' Said Falco.

'If they did, our lives would be completely boring!' said Slippy in a-matter-of-fact tone.

'Good point.'

They fought their way through all of Venoms forces until they were at the centre, however things had gotten tougher and were about to get out of hand, but if they could destroy the main Battlecruiser, their forces would become disorganised.

They attacked its mid-section, and had nearly destroyed it; if a large number of Venomian fighters hadn't attacked and forced them to disperse. The dogfight between the two sides waged with Cornerian fighters gaining the advantage. Fox downed another fighter and had a clear shot of the mid-section.

'I can't shake this guy; he's going to hit me!'

It was Krystal's voice. Fox froze, he could destroy the Battlecruiser and end this battle now, but he risked losing Krystal. He couldn't bear to think about it. Without a second thought, Fox took off after the fighter who was attacking Krystal. He fired at him and watched as he span out of control into another fighter.

'Thank you Fox, remind me to reward you latter.' Said Krystal in a seductive tone. Fox's face went a dark red.

However, their little moment was ruined when a fighter opened fire on Fox. Fox did everything he could to avoid him, but no matter what, he couldn't shake him. Eventually, the fighter was able to make a critical hit against his Arwing. Fox began spinning out of control and heading towards Venoms surface. The fighter followed him, but was destroyed by Krystal.

'FOX!' screamed Krystal over the com; tears were building in her eyes. Fox looked at her face on the screen.

'KRYSTAL! I LOVE YOU!' shouted Fox, right before the screen and com broke into static.

Fox's Arwing sped towards Venom at an incredible rate. The outside of his ship was starting to be engulfed in fire. He tried to level out his Arwing as it shot above the ground. There was a sudden jolt as it hit and grinded along the surface, the nose of it dug into the ground, tearing it up.

It came to a slow stop; Fox felt like he had been drained of energy, he looked around to see several figures in black armour standing near his ship, their red eye lenses glaring at him. He stared at them as everything faded into darkness.

**Flashback ends**

Life for Fox was horrible after that. He had been tortured and used as a lab rat countless times. He felt nothing but anger and hatred towards them for putting him through this. There would be a time where he would be able to turn the tables on them, torture them as they did him, kill them in the most brutal ways. He would have his revenge.


	2. The Escape

**Since some people want me to continue, here is chapter 2. Hope you enjoy, even though I still think my work is terrible. Also I think I over did it in the fight scenes.**

Chapter 2: Escape

6 months later

The Doctor looked at the burnt corpse of a tiger on the table. He turned towards the other scientists, who were keeping their distance away from him.

"Inform command that Chemical: U174 is a complete failure." He ordered in a disappointed tone.

"Doctor, what about Fox McCloud? Maybe we could use him as another test subject." Suggested a grey Koala.

"NO! Subject 222 had received more chemical injections than Subject 426. Using Fox would be a waste."

"But Doctor, you know that command is disappointed that we haven't been able to produce a single subject to serve as the base for the super soldier project," said a brown bear. "Most of the subjects die on the first experiment, some of our more successful ones die from multiple chemical reactions inside their bodies and some of the others are so dangerous that they need to be locked in 'The Vault'. We have very few successful subjects."

"Do you think I am 'not' aware of the situation? Why don't we use you as a new test subject?"

The bear backed away in fear, mentally kicking himself for bringing it up.

"No! Then inform command that Chemical: U174 is a failure!"

1 month later

Four soldiers were standing around a black ape who was wearing a black general's uniform which had a white trim and red star on his shoulders and cap. His left eye was replaced by a red lens, with the ends of a scar sticking out of the top and bottom of his eye. He was waiting impatiently for the Doctor in the command centre. Soon, the Doctor entered with fresh blood on his lab coat.

"Ah, General, apologies for the state of me, my work can be messy." said the Doctor with a chuckle. He was taller than the General, but the General had a bigger build.

"Don't play games with me, 'Doctor. I am here about your failure of the Super Soldier Project. You haven't been able to create a single subject to use as the projects base! You were given a deadline which you failed to up hold."

"But General, science doesn't work like that; it is all about trial and error. Sometimes, things do take longer then accounted for."

"Listen here, you have been giving plenty of time and we have been pushing the deadline back, but now you are hanging by a thread. Ghost Company does not tolerate failures. In one week, you will be given the last mutagen for the project; you will perform the experiment on one of the Subjects in front of me and the other Founders. And 'Doctor', if we don't see any results, the project will be cancelled and it will be on your head. Do you understand?"

"I understand." Replied the Doctor, he closed his right hand into a fist and placed it over his chest, below his left shoulder. "Hail Andross."

The General did the same. "Hail Andross."

The General turned on his heels and walked away, his bodyguards followed. The Doctor's face twisted as he left. He sat down at this desk in the Command Centre and checked the name of the mutagen, Chemical: Z213. He began looking over multiple files of the different subjects. He gritted his teeth; he had one chance to keep this project alive, but who to choose, most of the Subjects wouldn't be able to handle this Mutagen, it was a class Z-type, one of the most dangerous types ever, only a few had survived the process and they had ended up in 'The Vault'.

He could use a Subject from 'The Vault', they were more likely to handle it, but was it worth the risk of taking a subject from there and making them more dangerous. He looked through the list until he saw Subject 426: Prisoner52948-Fox McCloud; he cursed himself for not thinking of him before. Fox McCloud had gone through a total of 27 experiments and was still alive and wasn't a threat. He smiled evilly to himself.

1 week later

Fox was curled up on his blood stained bed; his insides were burning everywhere from whatever they had been putting inside him. It was strange, for a week he had been left alone, but before that, he had been tortured and experimented on heavily for seven months, and he was now called Subject 426, as well as Prisoner 52948. Despite been alone in a dark cold cell, he preferred it here than the rest of the facility. The only problem was that he needed his bucket emptied and a new roll of toilet paper.

Suddenly, he heard his cell door unlocking and opening, he knew it wasn't going to last. It was the Corporal and the two Privates.

"Did you miss us, McCloud?" said the Corporal.

Fox just got up from his bed, he wasn't going to fight. Suddenly, he felt a sudden jolt of electricity coursing through his body from his collar. He collapsed to the ground as the Corporal laughed. He let go of the button on the remote and the two privates picked up Fox by his arms. Fox looked towards the Corporal.

"I...am going...to kill you." He said. The Corporal just chuckled.

They dragged Fox down the all too familiar route towards the lift. They entered, pressed a button for the lift to move up. The door opened and they dragged Fox along the floor to another lab or torture chamber. Normally, Fox would be afraid of this journey, but since he so well it, he found it boring, though there was still a little fear of what was to come.

They stopped in front of a pair of double doors marked Lab: 001, the Corporal opened the doors and the Privates dragged Fox in. Fox looked around, he saw the familiar devices and table in the centre, but he noticed something else, a large rectangle window was on the left hand-side of the room, behind Fox could see 'The Doctor' behind it, along with a shorter, but more muscular ape, wearing what appeared to be a generals uniform, and the silhouette of other figures.

The soldiers strapped Fox to the table and removed his collar. He turned his head to the left, and saw 'The Doctor' whose teeth were barred. A sudden noise of the Injector got Fox's attention; it was above him and was spreading out its arms. He heard the doors open and knew what was coming.

Two figures in protective clothing had entered with the container in-between them. They opened the container and a cold, white mist flowed out of the container. They placed their hands inside and pulled out the cylinder container. They carefully carried it to the Injector and placed it inside the base. A scientist, a red cat, pressed a few buttons on the keyboard and a glowing blue liquid flowed through the tubes to the syringes at the ends. The Injector lowered until the needles were millimetres from Fox's flesh.

Fox then heard a voice over an intercom; it was 'The Doctor'. He was talking to the crew in the lab and the strangers in the room.

"Today, we can fail or succeed in this experiment, if we fail, then the project will be cancelled and all of the subjects terminated. But if we succeed, it will be a great contribution to science since Andross, and we will be able to regain the honour, after that traitor, Bowman, lost when he surrendered us to Corneria. Ghost Company will restore Venom and it's Military to what it once was! Hail Andross!"

All of the scientists and soldiers closed their right hands into fists and placed them over their chest, below their left shoulders. "Hail Andross!"

Fox was too busy thinking to notice, Dash Bowman was now in Command of Venom's Forces. How long had he been in Command of Venom? Was he still the same as Fox remembered him? He could only wonder, but one thing was clear; this 'Ghost Company' didn't support him and must be plotting against.

"Begin the Experiment!" ordered 'The Doctor'.

The needles pierced Fox's flesh and poured the chemical into him. Fox squirmed as the chemical burned his insides. He felt it spread through his body, making every cell burn.

"Doctor, the subject's brain patterns so slow reactions towards Chemical Z213." Said a female Zebra.

"Sir, his heart rate is at dangerously high levels!" yelled a Dalmatian.

"Increase the rate of injection to maximum! Begin the Electro-Enhanced Reaction Process, and have it at maximum power!" ordered 'The Doctor' it a fury.

"But sir that might kill the subject." Said a brown bulldog.

"This is our last chance for any success, and we are on the verge of a breakthrough in science. Now, DO IT!"

"Increasing the rate of inject to Maximum."

"Beginning Electro-Enhanced Reaction Process, setting power to 100%."

Fox roared from the intense pain. He shook and struggled against the straps that held him down. Hundreds of thoughts ran through his head, his life at the academy, his time during Team Star Fox, his first date with Krystal when they shared their first kiss, all of it came to him. But then the pain came back stronger stopped his thoughts, he roared again and clenched his hands.

"Reaction 95% complete and increasing."

Sparks shot out from some of the machines, Fox roared louder and struggled against the straps.

"97%, 98%, 99%."

Suddenly, Fox stopped screaming, his body froze and a single continuous beep could be heard all through the room.

"100% Full reaction."

"No heartbeat, Doctor," said the Brown Bear. "Fox McCloud is dead."

The Doctor barred his teeth; he was so close, so close to succeeding in science. But it was over. Fox McCloud was dead and the project was cancelled.

"You had your chance, Doctor. You failed. I'm here by dub this project a failure and have it cancelled." Said the General in a cold, uncaring tone.

"Remove McCloud's body!" ordered the Doctor.

The two Privates walked up to the table and began to undo the straps. As one was finishing off undoing the last strap on the top half of McCloud's body, a fist punched him in the chest and went straight through. The other soldier back away and everyone else froze as they saw whose arm it was.

"I…I…It can't be," stuttered the Zebra.

"He's alive," said 'The Doctor' in a surprised tone.

Fox removed his arm and sung his legs off the table and stood up. His right arm was a dark crimson with small lumps of flesh along it. His eyes that were once green were now a dark red. He barred his teeth as he cast his gaze over everyone.

"RESTRAIN HIM!" ordered 'The Doctor'.

The other Private and two scientists tried to grab him. Fox grabbed the Private with one hand and swung him into the scientists, then threw him into the wall. There was the horrible sound of bones breaking as the Private made contact with the wall.

The Corporal drew his machine gun and began to fire at Fox. Shielded his face with his arms, the bullets tore across his body, but Fox was still standing. He lowered his arms and glared at the Corporal, who was shaking with fear. Fox lifted up the table and threw it at him. Table knocked the corporal down and was resting on top of him. Fox kicked it off him, only to punch him in the chest, Fox crouched closer to him.

"Said I was going to kill you." He said in a cold, cruel voice. The Corporal didn't say a word.

"What's the matter? Cat got your tongue? Or fox got your spine?"

Fox removed his fist from the hole in the Corporals chest, taking out part of his spine as he did. He stood up and threw the spine pieces away.

Fox walked over to the window and slammed his fists on it. The glass cracked under his fists while he glared at them. They began to leave the room, Fox punched the glass but it would not break. Fox could only watch as they left.

Suddenly, red lights and sirens were going off, Fox looked around and saw that one of the two remaining scientist had activated the alarm. He charged at the Dalmatian, who had pressed the alarm button, and grabbed him by his arms. Fox pulled the Dalmatians arms, cuts began to form between his shoulder and arm, with blood trickling out. They grew bigger and bigger, blood was now squirting out and onto Fox. Eventually, the left arm was torn off from the Dalmatian, blood poured out from both the arm and Dalmatian; the bone of the left upper arm was broken through the middle. The Dalmatian screamed at the top of his voice, only to be silenced when Fox swung him into a tall, box-shaped device, then into the wall, and finally into the floor, causing his right arm to snap off.

Fox looked at the Dalmatians arms in his hands. Quickly, he threw them away, and ran towards the Zebra. He grabbed her by the throat and held her in the air.

"WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO TO ME!" he roared. He tightened his hand around her throat.

She struggle to say anything, she made strange gagging noise as she felt her windpipe close. She tried to open Fox's grasp with her hands. It wasn't long before her dropped by her sides and she was silent. Suddenly, the doors burst open and five heavily armed soldiers charged in. They saw Fox and aimed their weapons.

"Open fire!" ordered one.

Fox chucked the scientist's body away and kicked another device at the squad. One of them was able to dodge it, but the other four were knocked back and flattened by it. The last one struggled to his feet as Fox dashed forward. He yanked his machine gun from his hands, and bashed it into his skull, were a loud cracking sound followed.

Fox ran out through the doors and ran right, down the corridors that glowed red from the flashing lights. He felt different, he felt stronger, faster, and full of energy. Another squad ran out in front of him, he stopped and fired his machine gun at them. They returned fire, but their shots did nothing as they made contact, while Fox's did as much damage as they would expect.

When everyone in the squad had been shot dead, Fox looked over his body; there were bullet holes all over his body with the bullets still in them. But the thing he noticed was that the bullets were moving. A closer look showed that they were slowly backing out of his body, one dropped out of his body and the hole healed over, leaving only a small scar and a little drop of blood around it. The other bullets slowly dropped out of his body, one by one, much to Fox's surprise.

-x-x-x-

A small, but fairly large amount of Ghost Company's troops had secured the loading bay of the facility. From here, they were able to send squads into the Facility to hunt down Fox.

Two large, grey, 6-wheeled cargo trucks were parked inside, in the loading/unloading spaces. Hundreds of metal crates of different shapes and sizes had been arranged into barriers for protection and place heavy mounted machine guns. Five weathered, yellow cranes hung from the 50 feet high roof, their chains rattled as another squad slowly began to move down the corridor.

"Sergeant!" boomed a Lieutenant.

"Yes Sir!" replied the Sergeant,

"What is there to report?"

"We've lost contact with several squads; it's most likely that they encountered the subject."

"Fuck sake, this whole base and everything in it is going to shit."

Suddenly, they heard the sound of gunfire and screams of soldiers dying. One flew into the loading bay and straight into a mounted machine gun, knocking it over. The gunner was being crushed by the machine gun and the trooper's body. The other soldiers armed weapons as Fox McCloud casually strolled into the Loading Bay.

"BLAST HIM!" commanded the Lieutenant.

Before anyone could pull the trigger, Fox leaped over their heads and landed on the other side of the bay. He punched the nearest soldier in the face and kicked another into two others. The rest opened fire, but Fox continued to tear them apart one by one. Fox tore both of his fists into a soldier and ripped off the top half of his body from his hips. He tore out the spines of two soldiers, one he tore out from the back, and tore the others out through the front.

Eventually, the soldiers began to retreat to the exit as Fox tore the head off a private. When he saw them leaving, he sprinted in their direction, slaughtering them as he past. The Lieutenant, who had made it outside, turned around and saw Fox heading in their direction, pressed a switch to close and seal the Loading Bay doors.

The Soldiers who didn't make it out started banging on the door, shouting to let them out. Fox slowed down and began to slowly walk towards the terrified soldiers. They turned around and pressed their bodies against the door, as if it would fall if they pushed hard enough. Fox was covered in blood and chunks of flesh and organs, bloody footprints from his prison boots could be seen clearly behind him with each step he took, an evil sneer was plastered on his face, and his glaring red eyes were sending daggers at the troop's hearts.

Suddenly, he stopped and crouched down, he began groaning in pain. The pain was coming from his hands, they felt like someone dragging them across sharp glass and bashing them with a sledge hammer. A horrible sound of bones braking could be heard all through the Loading Bay. The Soldiers began to feel braver as Fox groans turned into yells. They readied their weapons to fire.

But then, Fox stopped yelling and the sound of breaking bones had ended. Then they heard a sound from Fox, like he was crying, but when he raised his head, they could see he wasn't crying, he was laughing. They couldn't understand it, why was he laughing? However, when he stood up, they could see what he was laughing about.

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!"

-x-x-x-

The lieutenant retreated, back to a makeshift barrier around the entrance of the loading bay, ignoring the screams of the soldiers he left for dead. The remaining troops had regrouped with the rest of the garrison and were in position. Two tanks were also in position; both of them were slightly larger than a landmaster, they had four sets of tracks (two on each side, all of them in a triangle shape), more bulky armor, the jets removed, and a energy cannon, which had red energy chamber at the end of it.

Eventually, they heard the troops inside stop screaming, they heard yelling, and then everything was quiet again. The lieutenant ordered a squad to check to see what had happened. The squad slowly walked up to the door with their weapons by their sides. A sudden scream caused them to freeze and aim their weapons at the door. They continued their journey, even slower than before.

A loud banging of metal caught them by surprise; a large dent had appeared on the door, sticking outwards. Then a second one appeared with a bang. And then a third. The soldiers were frozen in place; they aimed their weapons at the door, though they were shaking badly with fear.

Suddenly, the door burst open and a truck rolled straight into the squad. They were either crushed or sent flying into the barrier, the truck continued on its journey and into the barrier. The soldiers ran in all directions to get clear of it. Most of the soldiers were able to avoid the truck as it stopped halfway through the barrier. A thick cloud of dirt covered the area, making difficult to see.

One of the soldiers ran over to the wrecked barrier and aimed his blaster towards the Loading Bay. Suddenly, something grabbed him and picked him up by the back of his neck so fast that dropped his blaster. He looked to see Fox McCloud standing on the truck, holding him with his right hand, he struggled to get free, but Fox wasn't loosening his grasp. Then he saw a terrifying site, Fox's left hand was different, his fur was black, his fingers and thumb were longer and had become claws, and three curved spikes ran along his arm up to his elbow.

Fox used his claw to tear into the soldier's flesh and tore out his lungs and heart. He threw the body away and looked around. The sky was pitch black, with only a few stars faintly glowing could be seen. The base was surrounded a cross-wired fence with barbed wire running along the top, guard towers could be seen and certain points along the fence. There were multiple small bunkers in one area that seemed to be the barracks'. Several large warehouses could be seen with containers and vehicles outside. And a tall control tower could be seen in the distance next a large building and several hangers, this meant there was an air base.

"SHOOT THAT THING! SHOOT IT!" roared a soldier.

Fox jumped down and began mauling down the soldiers with his claws. A shot from one of the tank struck the ground near him, sending him flying into the wall of the Facility. He growled and charged at the tank, he jumped and landed on the hull of it, he place hands underneath the turret and began to pull it off from the base, the metal groaned with each tug until Fox ripped it from the hull and tossed it at the other tank. Fox grabbed the operator of the tank tore his head into pieces with the claw, until there were brain chunks, splintered bone, blood and flesh splattered all over the inside and outside of the tank. With the second tank, Fox lifted it above his head and threw it into the rest of the soldiers, some were flattened, others knocked over like bowling pins, and only a few were still alive.

Satisfied with his work at the Facility, Fox charged towards the air base. He leaped over obstacles and tore through soldiers that got in his way. He climbed to the top of a hanger and looked down at the air strip. To his joy he saw the 'Doctor' and the General, along with a fat, pale pink pig that looked like Pigma, only without the scars and (if possible) more uglier, and a grey and silver vulpine, who was wearing weathered and battered armor, surrounded by twelve soldiers, heading towards several ships. Despite the distance between them and him, Fox was somehow able to hear the conversation between them.

"This is a disaster; McCloud is on a rampage in the Facility. This is going to delay our plans." Complained the General.

"But we have created a successful subject for the project, if we can get a sample of his DNA…" said the Doctor, in a pleased tone.

"Forget it!" interrupted the Pig. "The project is a failure, and I do NOT want to die just yet. Now, I need to return to Kew, to sort out some 'business' problems. This does not change our agreement."

The pig ran up the ramp into his ship, followed by four soldiers. The ship, which was three times the size or an Arwing, had a pointed bridge, which ran down a short rounded neck to the body; there were four wings, two on each side arranged into an X formation, with two engines. Fox watched as the ship took off and leave the planet atmosphere.

"Sirs, Fox McCloud has escaped the Facility." Reported one of the soldiers.

"Get on board the ship before McCloud gets here!" ordered the General.

"One problem with that order," replied the vulpine, "McCloud's already here."

The vulpine drew a sniper rifle from his back, turned around, aimed and fired within a second. This caught Fox by surprise; the shot tore into his arm causing him yell. The soldiers along the airstrip eventually noticed him and opened fire. He jumped down and started to tear them apart, but no matter how many he butchered, there always seemed to be more to replace the ones he killed. He must have at least killed 100 of the bastards, but they kept coming. If he continued to stay, they might be able to overpower him through numbers.

Fox continued to claw his through them towards the Doctor, General and fox. The vulpine aimed his rifle, only to be stopped by the General.

"Ignore him, get on board!" commanded the General.

The vulpine growled but complied with the order; he lowered his rifle and ran up the ramp the ramp of another ship, similar to the one the pig left in. Fox noticed and sprinted through the waves of 'Ghost Company' troops. But the ship took off before he could get near it. Fox leaped to try and reach it; he was able to grab the bottom right wing and began to pull himself up. However, the ship shot off at an incredible speed. Fox was caught in the wind, blowing him off the wing and into the ground, leaving a small crater.

Several troopers gathered round to make sure he was dead. But were quickly eviscerated by his claws, much to the surprise of the other troops. The drop had made Fox angrier than before, his glare drilled through the soldier's souls, right before he resumed his butchering process.

With most of the Soldiers near in pieces, Fox ran towards a ship not far away, which was similar to others that had left. He ran up its ramp, closed it and made his way to the bridge. He looked around; there was a blank semi-circular dash board around the front of the bridge with a red glowing circle at the front of it, with three chairs, one on each side and one at the front.

"No controls!" he muttered to himself in surprise, "How the fuck am I to fly this piece of shit?"

Outside, the troops were bringing in heavy firepower involving Rocket Launchers and powerful grenades to send the ship, and Fox, to hell. Fox reached his hand out to touch the red circle. When he did, it turned from red to blue and lines shot out of it and zigzagged across the desk. Fox watched with amazement as they zoomed along the dash board, spots and images appeared beside the lines, the whine of an engine starting could be heard, and a control stick rose from the floor.

"Touch sensitive. Who knew Venom could be so fancy?" said Fox with a small chuckle, as he sat down in the chair.

The troops were also surprised as the engines began to roar.

"He's activated the ship! Bring in Fighters!" ordered one.

Slowly, the ship rose higher from the ground until it was hovering above the troops. Fox pressed a few buttons and grabbed the control stick, the ship shot off at an incredible speed towards the atmosphere. Fox was amazed by the sheer speed of it, he felt like he was flying his Arwing again, only a bit slower.

As he was leaving the atmosphere, the ship shook from incoming laser fire, a squadron of five Venom fighters were chasing after the vulpine. Fox sent his ship spinning and turning in all directions to avoid the incoming fire, thought it was difficult, Fox's ship was more of a shuttle than a fighter, despite is speed for a shuttle, it wasn't as agile or as fast a fighter.

Fox looked over the dash board for anything that involved defenses, he noticed a small, blue, rectangular touch button that said 'Auto Turrets: Deactivated'. He reached out with his clawed hand and touched it. When he did, it turned from blue to red, and changed the writing to 'Auto Turrets: Activated'.

"This is going to be fun." Said Fox as a smirk made its way across his lips.

One of the fighters turned around and closed in on the shuttle, when the turret on top suddenly jolted, turned to face him and fired in a matter of seconds. The pilot was unable to respond and his fighter was hit and exploded. The turret then focused its attacks at the four remaining fighters as they dispersed to avoid the laser fire. One flew below the shuttle and was hit by a turret underneath, sending it spinning out of control into another fighter. The two remaining fighters continued their attack with caution against the shuttle, Fox was pulling all of the moves he could to avoid them.

One fighter charged to distract the turrets, while the second attacked. Fox checked his shields to see that they were dangerously low. The fighters turned around for a second wave, the first one passed over to distract the turret. Fox turned the ship over on its side so the bottom was facing the first fighter while the top faced the second. Without the first fighter to distract it, the turret fired on the second, turning it into a ball of fire. The bottom turret followed the lone fighter as it tried to dodge the incoming lasers. Eventually, the fighter was hit in its engines, sending it spinning towards Venom.

Fox slouched into the chair and gave a deep sigh of relief. He thought about where he should go; only two places came to mind, Corneria and Kew. Kew was where the Pig from the facility was going, a good place to find some answers, and revenge. But Corneria held the one thing that Fox held the one thing he loved, Krystal. She must have thought he had died on Venom nearly a year ago, how surprised would she be to see him after all this time. But he was a target for 'Ghost Company'; would it be worth the risk of letting her become a target as well? And how would he explain what he had become?

Fox was getting a headache from all of this thinking, or maybe it was the stink coming from him. He smelt of death from all of the blood, flesh chunks and whatever else he had 'collected'. He looked at his claws; he closed his eyes and thought about them returning to normal. He gritted his teeth as he felt the pain of them slowly changing. The claws shrunk and returned to fingers, the spikes slowly returned into his arms and his fur turned from black to orange

He set the shuttle on auto-pilot, on course for Kew, and left the bridge. He walked down the corridors of the shuttle, looking for a place to wash up, through the main hold, past the medical room and the storage room, until he stopped in front of a door marked 'Toilet'. He pressed the switch on the side and it opened with a hiss. He saw a sink and a toilet on the inside.

"Better than nothing at least." He sighed.

He grabbed a small cloth and removed his shredded and bloody prison jumpsuit.

-x-x-x-

After cleaning him-self up and finding some new clothes in the storage room, which was armour similar to 'Ghost Company' only with the armour along the lower arms removed and the 'Ghost Company' patches covered with parts from his jumpsuit.

He sank into his chair and closed his eyes to have a decent sleep, something that he hadn't had for a year.


	3. Coping and Arrival

BEEP BEEP

A blue furred hand reached out from behind the bed covers and switched off the alarm clock. A blue vixen got up from the bed and slowly made her way to the bathroom. Krystal removed her nightgown, stepped into the shower and turned it on. The hot water poured down onto her head and ran down her back.

Krystal thought back to her dream, she was with Fox on Sauria, they were on the shores of Cape Claw, talking, laughing, kissing. Everything was perfect, but then that alarm went off, destroying her dream and bringing her back to reality. Those dreams were very rare, and she hated it when she woke up. But it was worse when she had nightmares, ones that haunted her nearly every time she slept, of her losing Fox in that battle over Venom. She turned off the shower, stepped out and grabbed a white towel from the rack. She wrapped it round her and made her way to her room.

After getting dressed in a blue T-shirt, black jeans and boots, she made her way down stairs and grabbed her car keys and a small bunch of flowers. She went outside, got into her car and drove off.

Parking in front of a graveyard, grabbed the flowers, got out and slowly made her way through the graves. She walked towards section, where a very large group of white grave stones, all of them the same, all of them wearing the mark of the Cornerian Defence Force , in rows of twenty, stretching back for a long way.

Krystal made her way through the graves, the black writing stood out, revealing the names of those they marked. _Joseph Williams, Amy Michelson, Roger Kane, Natalie Star, _the list was endless. Krystal felt tears swell in her eyes as stopped in front of the grave it pained her to look at. Above the mark of the CDF, was the logo of Team Star Fox, and below it was written:

_In Memory of Fox McCloud._

_Who was one of the many who sacrificed themselves in the battle against Andross' forces over Venom. May they be remembered for eternity._

_Lylat has lost one of our greatest heroes, to have ever lived._

Tears ran down Krystal's cheeks as she placed the flowers at the foot of the grave stone. After what seemed like a life time, Krystal turned around and slowly walked away.

-x-x-x-

Fox woke up feeling refreshed; it had been a year since he had slept liked that. He looked out of the front window of the bridge to see he was coming up to a grey planet, Kew.

Kew was a planet that was full of vice and loss. Gambling, drugs, prostitution, illegal goods, all of it attracted people to have some of it, but the crime rate was the most dangerous in Lylat, with theft, rape, murder, and abductions being the most common. It was a good place to find mercenaries, bounty hunters, assassins, smugglers and other types of scum. The only authorities on the planet were the multiple crime gangs that were waging a constant war with each other for control. However, several people would take arms against the gangs to bring real law and order to Kew, unfortunately, they were always wiped out.

Fox switched off the auto-pilot and grabbed the control stick; he guided the shuttle through the atmosphere and towards the nearest space port. He looked over the magnificent skyscrapers that only masked what really happens, as he flew towards the space port. There were 5 long Airstrips, where several large ships nearby, ranging from cargo types to passenger types, while there was a large area of hangers with a large variety of smaller aircraft coming and going from there. There were small cargo shuttles and private shuttles.

A small hologram head of a white vixen appeared on the dash board in front of Fox. Fox looked at her and had a lump formed in his throat, if she recognised him, then the pig would be alerted and flea.

"Unidentified shuttle; you are nearing Kew Airstrip No. 082, what is your business?" she said bluntly.

"Uh...Requesting permission to land." Replied Fox, slightly nervous.

"Permission granted. Head for landing Hanger: 247" She said and her hologram disappeared.

Fox breathed a sigh of relieve, she didn't recognise him from all of the scars on his face. He carefully guided the shuttle towards the hanger he had been told to land in, there was hiss as the landing gear lowered. The shuttle entered the hanger and slowly landed.

Fox got up from his chair and made his way to the storage room. Inside were several grey metal box crates which contained large numbers of different weapons, ammunition, armour and other equipment and supplies. Fox opened an armour crate and picked up the helmet inside. The vixen might not have recognised him but there was the chance of someone recognising him and blowing his cover.

After placing on his helmet, Fox searched through the crates for some weapons. He selected a M64 Blaster pistol (which was small and had a laser target device underneath the barrel), a XK-47 Energy Rifle (which was like a machine gun, with a cylinder clip, a mid-range scope, and a grenade launcher underneath the barrel), and four grenades, to give him the more mercenary look and not attract any attention. He walked down the ramp and exited the hanger.

-x-x-x-

Fox walked through a crowded street; people of all different species were rushing around, but would slow down to get out off his way. He had spent most of the day searching for any information involving that fucking pig, the sun was beginning to set and he had nothing.

After another hour of searching, Fox was no closer to finding his target. He thought of all the places that Pig could be.

'_Ok, if I was a fat, ugly, asshole, where would I go?_'

He looked around, he saw people walking up and down the now brightly lit street, heading into night clubs and strip clubs, and coming out drunk and vomiting. He then noticed a group of four odd-looking characters, a red vulpine, a black, towering Great Dane, and two pale green hawks. The vulpine wore a black, leather trench coat with a hood over urban camouflage combat armour. The Great Dane wore grey, heavy, battle scarred armour which had some leather straps holding parts of it together and various salvaged parts to replace other pieces, with a rifle slung around on his backs. The two hawks wore similar armour to the vulpine only without the urban camouflage style, and two pistols in holsters on their belts each.

They were standing beside the entrance to an alleyway; a white poodle saw them and went down the alleyway to avoid them, however they noticed her and crept after her, unaware that they were being followed themselves.

The poodle began to walk at a faster pace in an attempt to get away from the thugs, only for them to speed up and chase after her. She screamed and tried to run, but found it difficult in her heels. One of the hawks tackled her to the ground then picked her up. Her eyes were full of fear as they stared lustfully at her body. The Great Dane grabbed the top of her red dress and tore it off to reveal her black, nearly see-through bra, and then he tore it off, causing her breasts to spill out of the dress.

"Please...don't..." she sobbed, but her pleas feel on deaf ears.

The hawk chucked her onto the floor and lifted up the end of her dress to reveal a pair of black panties.

"Boys!" roared the vulpine, "We're gonna have fun tonight."

They all cheered as the vulpine began to pull off the poodles panties, and then reached for the zip on his trousers.

"Let her go!" they heard a demanding voice. They all turned around to see a figure in black armour, with red eye-lenses on the helmet. "Let, her, go!" he repeated.

The thugs roared with laughter at this so-called 'hero'. Eventually, the vulpine stopped laughing and turn to face the figure.

"Buddy, do you have any idea of who we are?" he asked, the figure didn't reply. "We're part of the Crimson Skulls, and if you had any brains, you will turn around and walk away."

"No!"

"Is that so?" he clicked his fingers, "Tiny, get rid of him."

The Great Dane slowly walked over to the figure, cracking his knuckles as he did. Soon, he was standing in front of armour figure, looking down on him. He reached out to grab him with his enormous paws, but the figure grabbed his arms and swung him into the wall.

The thugs were shocked by what they saw; the hawks drew their pistols and aimed at him, while the vulpine pulled a shot-gun from his trench coat. The Great Dane staggered to his feet and grabbed his rifle from his back.

"You asked for this, you little fucker!" roared the Great Dane.

Before they could fire, the figure charged at the Great Dane and punched him in the chest, his right arm going straight through. The thugs were shaken by the sight; one of the hawks panicked and fired his pistols. The lasers hit but had no effect. The figure slowly turned his head to face the hawk, the red lenses burned with concealed anger. Suddenly, the figure pulled his arm through the right side of the Great Danes chest. Ripping large chunks of flesh out as he did to reveal his clawed hand. The vulpine stammered back in horror, one of the hawks dropped his pistols and froze with fear and the other fell to the floor and began vomiting uncontrollably.

"Who's next?" said the figure in a low, threatening tone, as he removed lung chunks from in-between his claws.

The hawk that was standing pulled up the vomiting hawk and pushed him at the figure, then ran to try and get past. The figure stabbed the first hawk in the abdominal and ripped his torso apart. The other hawk had just past him; he grabbed his neck with his left hand and returned his right hand to normal. His left hand tore into the hawks as his right hand began to scrape off the flesh on the hawks skull. With a sudden pull, he tore out the skull from skin and separated it from the neck.

The vulpine was trembling as the figure tossed away the skull and headless body. The figure slowly walked through the pools of blood towards him. Quickly, he fired his shot-gun at the figures hip; the figure didn't flinch as the shot made contact. He fired again, this time hitting his left arm, just below his shoulder. The figure groaned slightly. The vulpine fired his third shot at the figures head. The right side of the figures helmet shattered, blood and small chunks of flesh were sent flying as the figure turned his head right from the impact. The vulpine grinned.

But suddenly, the figure turned to face him, his grin vanished. He could see flesh re-growing on the figures face through the blast hole of the helmet. Skin soon grew over the muscles, followed by orange and white fur. The eyelid opened to reveal a blood red eye that was glaring at the vulpine; his courage flowed out of him, and through his trousers.

The figure grabbed the vulpine by the neck with his right hand and lifted him up into the air. The vulpine grabbed his hands and tried to loosen his grip, but to no success.

"W-w-who ar-e gasp y-yo-u?" stuttered the vulpine.

"I am Fox McCloud."

The vulpine froze in horror, Fox McCloud was alive! How was this possible? He saw Fox raise his other hand and watched it change into a claw.

"P-p-please, d-don't kill me." The vulpine begged.

"You threatened a defenceless woman, you don't deserve mercy." Growled Fox.

He positioned his index claw and middle claw in front of the vulpines eyes. The vulpine gulped. Fox pushed his two claws in through the vulpines eyes. The vulpine shook and gasped as his life slowly faded away. Fox removed his claws and let go of the body, allowing it to drop to the floor. He removed his trench coat, put it on and turned to face the petrified poodle.

"You are going to forget what you saw." Said Fox in a gruff tone.

The poodle nodded and watched as Fox walked out of the alleyway, pulling the hood above his head. However no-one was aware of two hooded figures on a roof top above them.

"Did you see that? He killed those four assholes!" said one.

"I know, but did you see the way he killed? He basically butchered them." Said the other.

"No doubt about it though, he could be of use to us."

"Follow him, I'll inform command."

-x-x-x-

Fox walked through the streets of flashing lights, pissed teenagers and shady characters. He was tired and he had found no information regarding the pig, or anything relating to 'Ghost Company. He began thinking he was wasting his time.

He headed over and entered a large, two floored strip club with red neon lighting that decorated the entire outside, its name shone in red: _Venus_. Inside the sounds of thumping music, whistling and cheering could be heard as soon as Fox entered the club, he looked around to see horny old bastards sitting in chairs with handfuls of money, gawking at young and barely legal girls dancing along poles in nothing but a thong some had nothing on at all. Fox was disgusted.

He sat at the bar counter and bought a pint of the strongest drink available for a small amount of credits he 'borrowed'. He quickly removed his helmet and pulled his hood back up before anyone could notice him. He looked down at the green liquid in his glass, he never drank much alcohol before, he took a sip and felt it burn the insides of his throat.

"This stool taken?" asked a voice.

Fox turned around to see a black crow standing next to him. He just made a no gesture with his head, before returning to his drink. The crow sat in the stool and waited to be served.

"So how have things been for you?" he asked.

"I'm not looking for company," said Fox in a gruff tone.

"Ha ha! You're on Kew my friend, here, you never drink alone!"

"Yeah, well I do!" Fox spat back.

The crow was taken back slightly. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a box of cigarettes and a lighter.

"Fair enough," he placed a cigarette in his mouth and lit the end, "So, what do you think of the gang war?"

"I don't give a shit."

"Huh, I thought a mercenary like you would be looking to profit from it."

"Do you want something, or are you just trying to get on my bad side?" growled Fox in an annoyed tone.

The crow took another deep drag of his cigarette and turned to Fox.

"No, I saw your bad side when you tore apart those four Crimson Skulls, Fox McCloud."

Fox eyes widened in shock, his ears were twitching underneath his hood. Did he hear that right? He had been seen killing those thugs, and heard revealing his name.

"Who the fuck are you, and what do you want?" he growled.

"I'm the one who's got a job offer for you," he said in a smug tone, "I work for a group of people who have been waging war with the gangs, trying to bring order and peace to this planet."

"Sorry, not interested."

"Look around you; this is the result of the gangs having all the power. Most of these girls are slaves and their barely older than children. This just a fraction of what they do." The crow was struggling to hold back his rage.

"I didn't come here to help you; I came because I want answers, and payback!" Fox was on the verge of crushing the glass in his hand.

"Does it not appeal to you that the evil have all the power, while the innocent are forced to live in shit?"

"I have my own problems, and you have yours. Deal with it!"

The crow was now biting his tongue to stop himself punching Fox in the face, even if he would be ripped to shreds for it.

"Then how about this, you help us, we'll help you."

Fox had to admit it; he was intrigued by the offer. If they could help him find the pig, then maybe it was worth helping them.

"Ok then, you've got a deal."

The crow smiled triumphantly.

"The names Black-wing, now then, about that job."

**A/N: Ok, I know chapter 3 isn't as long or as violent as the last one, but I am not going to turn Fox into a bloodthirsty, murdering psychopath...yet. Also I thought I might give you a little idea of how Krystal is cooping; I will be showing how the others are later on. Sorry I couldn't get this up sooner, I've been studying for my A-levels so I haven't had much time for this. Hope you understand.**


	4. War for Kew: Part 1

**Ok, here is chapter 4. I know it took a long time, but I've be busy and this chapter was bloody long. I started to rush towards the end because I was getting sick of this chapter, so don't expect something amazing, because I know this isn't my finest work. Sorry for your disappointment.**

Fox and Black-wing were walking through one of the darker areas of Kew, where the flashing lights never shone; the streets were devoid of life as many hid inside the ruined buildings. Shadows engulfed much of the area making it difficult to see what might be around.

"Where are we going?" asked Fox.

"Don't worry, we're nearly there" replied Black-wing.

He stopped in front of a tall, chain linked gate. Behind it was what remained of an old abandoned factory. The walls showed signs of corrosion and rust, large gaping holes were dotted across the building. Smashed windows were seen with rumble behind them, hinting that parts of the roof had caved in, and behind it stood two towering chimneys.

"Follow me" said Black-wing.

Black-wing opened the gate and slowly made his way towards the building, Fox followed closely behind. Suddenly, there was a sound of banging metal and ten heavily armed people appeared within the gaps of the building. Three of them slowly stepped out of the building and walked towards them, with their weapons aimed at them. One was a dark green lizard, wearing a tattered red shirt and black tracksuit bottoms with a plain combat vest over his shirt, a tan muscular bulldog, who wore dark green trousers, black combat boots and a combat vest and a white vixen, who was wearing grey trousers and a purple t-shirt under a combat vest.

"You there, freeze!" ordered the lizard.

Fox and Black-wing stopped walking.

"Raise your hands!" boomed the bulldog.

Black-wing and Fox raised their hands till they were slightly above their heads, but Fox was struggling to control his temper.

"Why did you bring this one, Black-wing?" asked the lizard.

"I found someone we will want to recruit" replied Black-wing.

"Bollocks! Nearly everyone out there is involved with some gang. What makes you think this one can be trusted?"

"He killed four Crimson Skulls with his bare hands...sort of"

The bulldog and the vixen made an approving nod towards each other. The lizard however, was not impressed.

"He could be working for a different gang! I wouldn't trust anyone to help unless they were...were...Fox McCloud!" spat the lizard.

Black-wing's lips curved into a smirk and Fox removed his hood. The lizard began to stutter and make strange noises.

"I guess this means he can be trusted" said Black-wing in a smug tone.

Both of them walked past the group and entered the Factory ruins. Inside, there wasn't much to look at, they were in a small room that looked like a reception, which was connected to several corridors, most of them were caved in, while the few that were clear looked like they were going to collapse. Several crates were left in the corners of the room and some were placed in front of the collapsed corridors. Most of them were open and had most of their contents gone.

Black-wing walked over to the end of the room and moved one of the crates, revealing a manhole cover. He opened it to reveal a hole with a ladder to enter it. He climbed down the ladder into the darkness of the hole. Fox followed him. A horrible scent made its way into Fox's nostrils; he coughed and spluttered as it burned the inside of them.

"Sorry, forgot to tell you about the smell," said Black-Wing, "It's the sewers, in case you're wondering."

"Thanks, I really wanted to know what the fuck was making that stink!" Yelled Fox in a sarcastic tone.

Black-wing chuckled to himself as he reached the ground and backed away to allow Fox to get off. They walked down the dark tunnel, the sewage sloshed and splashed against the walkways as it followed them. Fox felt like he was going to throw up his insides.

Black-wing then stopped in front of a metal door; he began knocking against it in a rhythm, the sound of sliding metal echoed from the other side and the door opened to reveal a badger, wearing a battered form of makeshift armour and a machine gun in his hands. He looked over them and nearly dropped when he saw Fox. He backed away quickly to let them past.

Fox looked around, he was in a large dark chamber, there were pipes running along the walls and ceilings. Small fires could be seen, giving off heat and light to those huddled around them. Large piles of crates were stacked along the edges. A large number of sleeping bags and old, worn mattresses were lying around; most of them had someone curled up on them. There was a large number of people of different species, all of them were wearing tattered clothing, covered with worn makeshift or combat armour, and had some form of weapon in their possession.

As they made their way through, people began to stop and stare at them, more specifically Fox. Fox heard whispering from within the crowds.

"Is that Fox McCloud?"

"I thought he was dead!"

"It's not possible."

The whispers continued to float around as the two of them made their way to the end of the chamber where a hooded figure, was clad in black clothing and armour, was standing in front of several maps that were pinned up on the wall, and behind a desk with a map and several documents scattered over it. The figure turned around to face them; Fox stared at the figure, their face hidden by the shadows of their hood.

"Sir," stated Black-wing and saluted, "I've found someone who can be a real asset to our cause."

"Very good Black-wing, you are dismissed," said the figure in a deep monotone voice.

Black-wing saluted again and walked away, Fox found it strange that a gang were using military based actions. The figure turned his attention to Fox.

"So, the famous Fox McCloud is back amongst the living." He said, sounding intrigued.

"And pretty soon, you won't be," growled Fox.

"Anyway, let's talk about business then, why are you here exactly? I would of have expected you to return to your old team."

Fox grit his teeth.

"I'm here because I'm looking for payback and answers."

"And why is that?"

"I rotted in a prison for a year, and one of the bastards behind it is on this planet."

"Interesting, so who might this bastard be then?"

"I...don't know his name," replied Fox, feeling a rather stupid, "All I know is that he is a fat, pink pig, some kind of business man and I think getting help from an off world top secret military unit."

The figures head moved underneath its hood.

"I think I might know who you are talking about."

The figure walked round the desk and opened a draw, he flicked through the folders inside until he grabbed one, took it out and handed it to Fox. Fox looked at the tan folder, he opened it and the first thing he saw was a picture of the pig.

"That's him!" exclaimed Fox.

"His name's Max Nova, AKA the Governor of Kew. He's the most powerful crime boss on this planet, he and his gang, the Death Bringers, control 43% of the planet and have operations on other planets in Lylat, by posing as a company called Nova-Corp. For months we, The Protectors, have fought to defend Kew and its people from the multiple gangs, but we are on the verge of defeat because of him," Said the figure grimly.

"They're getting extra support from an off world source, we're talking real military grade shit here, it's giving them such an advantage their now the largest gang on Kew. Now you're saying that it's from a secret military unit. It makes sense but what do they get out of it?"

"I don't know, and I don't care!" roared Fox, "Now are you going to help me find him or am I wasting my time?"

The figure was taken back a bit but regained his composure.

"Very well then, my spies have informed me that he has returned from a business trip, but he has now gone into hiding. So we need a plan to draw him out, or bait him into a trap. But to do that we are going to need weapons, supplies and bodies. But I know a place where we can get most of what we need."

"Oh, I see where this is going," muttered Fox.

"There is a Nova-Corp shipping port not too far away. My spies have uncovered that a large weapon shipment has been made recently to that location. I want you to meet with some of my men there and..."

"Blow that shit-hole up?"

"No, what part of we need weapons do you not understand? Just take whatever you can, and get it back here. Then blow that shit-hole up."

"Just one question, how do I know you're actually planning on helping people? You could just be another power hungry gang of inbred fuckers for all I know."

"We are not politicians; we don't pretend to solve problems so that we can get 100'000'000 credits. We prefer murdering assholes and getting our hands bloodstained."

"Oh, so where is this place again?"

-x-x-x-

Fox walked down a dark alleyway next to an abandoned multi-storey bar, all three floors had windows were boarded up or covered with metal, the entrance was blocked with refuse and scrap parts of vehicles and other useless tech, and the building itself looked like it was going to collapse at any moment.

He walked towards a metal door behind the dinner; it was heavily corroded and rusted. He banged against the door three times, the sound of movement could be heard and a small hatch opened to reveal a brown eye.

"Why are you here?" asked a gravelly voice.

"Is the nova about to blow?" asked Fox.

The eye suddenly disappeared behind the slide and the door opened to reveal a black and gold German Sheppard, wearing an old combat vest with different pieces of scrap over it and his arms, he was holding an old weathered machine gun that had duct tape around its ammo clip to attach a second clip. He looked up and down the alley before pulling Fox in and closing and locking the door.

Fox looked around to see he was in a small dark room; there were a large number of crates stacked in the corner. Opposite them was an open door way into what was the front of the dinner, which was dimly lit, there were several more crates inside, most of them had been opened and their contents spread along the tables. Fox could see roughly 16 heavily armed and armoured people, some of them cast their gaze his way before returning to what they were doing. Next to the doorway, was a staircase that headed to the next floor.

"Where's the rest of the reinforcements?" he asked.

"Uh...I'm it," replied Fox.

The dogs' mouth fell open in shock.

"But...what...how...ah fuck it! Follow me."

Fox followed the German Sheppard up the stairs; the next floor was just as dark with only a single lamp was lighting up the corridor. A dirty, blood stained, pale blue couch was next to light with a wounded brown rabbit lying on it with pink poodle rapping white bandages around his left shoulder and abdominal. A first aid kit and tray with tweezers and four bullets in it was next to medic's knee.

People were sleeping on the floor or dirty mattresses of some of the rooms while other rooms contained more crates, at the far end was a small square room. All of the windows were barricaded. Inside, a large number of maps were pinned up on the back wall with a red vixen and yellow cat looking over them, pointing at certain locations and writing stuff down on scraps of paper. Next to the maps was a small table with a custom built communicator on it that was being operated by a white tiger, who was wearing a headset and jotting down notes. On the other side of the room, a leopard was sitting at a computer and in the centre was a table with a smaller 3-D replica of a shipping yard, which was made from bits of rubbish on it. A grey female lupine was analysing it when they entered, she focused her attention on Fox.

"So Fox McCloud is alive," she spoke in a posh accent, "The Commander said we were going to be in for a surprise when we received reinforcements."

"I'm only here for a job, not talk about me 'cheating death'!" growled Fox.

"Never thought someone as cute as you would have such an attitude. Anyway, introductions are in order, my name is Leah."

"Nice to meet you, now can we get on with this job for fuck sake."

"Charming. Ok, then. Recently, a weapons shipment was made to this site from an unknown supplier. Based on what the spies gathered, a large number of containers were delivered. Since the delivery, security is tight."

"Let me worry about security, but how are we to move all of the containers?"

"Hun, we're only going to cut open the containers and take the cargo."

"Still, how do you expect to move this stuff?"

"We have arranged transport from other garrisons, which should make our job a lot easier." She turned to face the German Sheppard. "Vince, get Fox into position."

"Yes Ma'am" replied Vince.

Vince turned around and walked out the door, Fox followed him but was stopped when Leah called him.

"And Fox, try not to get that gorgeous bum shot off."

Fox just rolled his eyes and walked out the door.

"Fan-girls" he muttered to himself.

-x-x-x-

Fox and Vince were on the third floor, which was completely dark; most of the walls had collapsed, leaving gaping holes. The entire floor was empty with only five soldiers, armed with sniper rifles, sitting neck to the windows. At the far end of the floor, in the last room was a large hole that led into the next building. Inside the next building, it was just as dark and was in a worse state. Parts of the roof had already collapsed and other areas looked like they were going to give way any second, several creates were placed next to the walls, most of their contents had been already been taken. There were some more snipers who had taken positions next to the windows.

Vince walked past the snipers and headed towards a door at the far end, Fox followed close behind. Vince gently pushed the door open; the metal squeaked and groaned as it slowly opened. Vince and Fox slowly walked out to where they were on a lower part of the roof of the building.

Opposite the building was a large fenced off shipping yard. Barbed wires were running along the top of the fence. Several guard towers were built into the fence with searchlights that were searching over the inside of the complex and outside. Thousands of large shipping containers were stacked up and in long rows, next to several cranes. Multiple hangers could be seen over in one corner of the shipping yard. Trucks could be seen parked in different areas of the yard. An airfield could be seen at the back of the facility. Several buildings could be seen not far from the gate. And there were guards patrolling every corner of it, armed with rifles and flashlights.

Vince reached into his pocket, pulled out an earpiece and handed it to Fox; it was small and black with a small antenna on top and a mouth piece near the bottom. Fox switched it on and placed it in his right ear.

"Ok here's the plan," said Vince, "We can't attack yet because of the search lights they have around the perimeter and the guard towers will pick us off one by one. Your job is to get in there and kill the power, after that find some way to open that gate. We'll move in and help clear out the guards and start loading up the equipment. Now listen, the moment we attack their going to call in reinforcements, if that happens we're going to be in the shit. So try and stop that from happening. Understand?"

Fox nodded and Vince pointed at a section of the fence between to guard towers.

"There's a blind spot between those guard towers, if you can make it to the fence, you'll be able to climb over and get inside without much trouble," said Vince, "So what the fuck are you waiting for? Get moving!"

He pointed at the edge of the building, were the end of a fire escape could be seen. Fox dashed over to it and slid down it until he was on the metal staircase. He walked over to the edge and leaped over the railing, gravity pulling him towards the ground. He landed with loud thud, the ground underneath him cracked from the impact. He slowly stood up, walked out of the alleyway and headed towards the shipping yard.

He stopped several yards away from the blind spot in the perimeter. His eyes dashed between the two guard towers, watching as their searchlights lit up everything they saw. Both of them moved out in opposite directions, opening the blind spot for Fox. Seeing his chance, Fox dashed towards the fence at a breath taking speed, and was soon several feet away from the fence. Fox felt a sudden surge of energy pulse through his body. He leaped over the fence and a container before landing on the concrete ground, feeling it crack underneath him. He reached for his earpiece and activated the com.

"I'm in."

"Good, now shut off the power."

-x-x-x-

Fox walked through the maze of the containers, he had thought about climbing the containers but he could risk detection and ruining the plan.

He turned a corner and saw the light of torches up ahead from a right turn. He backed behind the corner and pressed his body into the container. He heard voices from around the corner.

"You see anything?" asked a squeaky voice.

"Containers, containers, and what's down there? Oh, more fucking containers!" boomed a deep voice.

"Oh stop your belly aching, just check down there and I'll check over here."

A beam of light shot down the passage in front of Fox, he heard heavy footsteps slowly making their way towards him, he pressed his body against the side of a container. The footsteps louder as they came closer. Soon a large, hulking, grey haired ape stepped into view, a Gatling gun with a flash light attachment was in his hands and he wore well-made, black security armour. He slowly turned his body to the right and saw Fox.

Before he could do anything, Fox stepped forward punched him through his chest. Pieces of his lungs, heart, rib cage and spine shot out through back as Fox pushed them out. Large amounts of blood oozed through the gaping hole. Fox withdrew his fist and the body collapsed to the ground, blood dripped off Fox's arm. Suddenly, he heard footsteps coming his way, a gold Labrador wearing a similar set of armour, only smaller, holding a machine gun which had a torch underneath the barrel.

He aimed at Fox, but before he could fire, Fox leaped into the air in his direction. Fox turned his left hand into its clawed form and landed on top of the Labrador. He then tore into the Labradors abdominal and tore out his intestines. Muscles and blood were sent flying as Fox removed his claw with the intestines still tangled in them.

Fox dragged the Labradors body back to the apes and began to stuff their bodies in a small gap between two containers. The Labradors body was easy, but the apes required a lot of work. With both bodies hidden, just, Fox took off to find the generator.

-x-x-x-

Fox had made it out of the container maze, ahead he could see several buildings, some had light glaring out of their windows, while others were dark and lifeless. Quickly, he ducked behind a parked truck to avoid being detected. Some guards could be seen walking in and out of the buildings, and a few could be seen smoking cigarettes.

Fox looked around; he tried to find the building that was housing the generator. He noticed a long, metal building, with five windows running a long it, the other side of them was concealed by thick, grey curtains. Quietly, Fox dashed to it and ducked underneath the window, he could hear the faint sounds of laughter and shouting from inside the building. Slowly, he crept along the side of the building to its end. He stopped before stepping out, and slowly put his head around the corner. He saw two guards with their backs to him; one was a white tiger and the other was a golden wolf, both of them wore security guard armour, had their rifles on their backs and had their flash lights on their belts.

"So, when are we going to use our new toys?" asked the tiger, before taking a drag of his cigarette.

"I don't know, but when we do, The Death Bringers are going to take this planet by storm," he said, "Imagine it, we get loaded up and start tearing down 'The Crimson Skulls', 'The Hunters' and the others within minutes, and then we'll get rid of those 'Protector' assholes."

"Yeah, whoever the Boss is friends with, sure knows how to bring hell. Come on lets head inside."

Fox backed his head away from the corner as the tiger and wolf turned around and walked into the barracks. After the door closed, Fox stepped out from round the corner and looked around the area; all of the guards had gone. Fox looked at the line barracks'; noises from the occupants could be faintly heard.

Fox looked at the other buildings; one was slightly large and had no windows, most likely because of the sign above the door said 'Shower'. Another was rather small with a single window, but no light could be seen from its window. There were two buildings left, both of them had no windows, but one was larger than the one next to it. The smaller one had a sign with a lightning bolt on it on the door, with writing underneath it which read, _DANGER_.

Fox slowly made his way towards the door of the building. When he got there, he noticed an electronic lock with a key pad was on the left hand side of the door. Fox turned his left hand into a claw and tore open the door. Inside, was a small dark room, with a large generator at the back of it.

The generator had two cool down fans that were spinning at a rapid pace in the bottom left corner, lights could be seen flashing along certain parts of it. Several glowing white rods were stacked next to it and were held within some cylinder containers.

Fox walked up to the small computer on it. He stared at the screen, he looked the screen, it told him about the power output, the current status of the generator itself, and the strength of the cooling system. Fox then began to press at the keyboard underneath it, he selected the power output and set it to maximum, the generator began to whir and groan loader and faster. Fox then shut down the entire system, sounds of the fans suddenly died. The screen began to flash red and a message appeared on the screen, _WARNING: COOLING SYSTEM DEACTIVE! GENERATOR OVERHEATING!_

Fox smirked as the lights around the generator began to flash red and a siren began to wail. Fox smashed the computer, then dashed out the door and ran towards the office. He hid behind it and heard the sounds of running footsteps. He peered around the corner of the office to see large number of guards, of different species, running towards the generator building. Some of the guards reached it first and entered, just as most of the others had reached it.

Suddenly, the building exploded, throwing back all of the guards near it in different directions. Their scorched bodies slammed into the ground, some collided with some of the guards that had not been caught in the explosion. The building was nothing more than a collapsed burning ruin and was now the only light source in the complex; the lights across the complex had died out and were replaced by shadows. Fox activated his earpiece:

"Powers out, Vince."

"I noticed, our troops are in position for the attack, but you need to get that gate open before we move in."

"Don't worry, that gate will be open in a few minutes," said Fox with a chuckle as he cast his gaze towards a grey six-wheeled truck, parked across the area. "Just make sure no-one is near it when it opens."

-x-x-x-

Vince didn't understand what Fox meant by 'just make sure no-one is near it when it opens', but he made his way back inside and began to walk down the metal catwalks and staircases of the building. At the bottom, the large area was packed with thirty troopers to begin the attack, all of them were wearing a form combat or makeshift armour over their tattered clothes, a weapon was in their hands and a small backpack was on their back. They were all sitting down and waiting for the order to move. The area was dimly lit because some troops were using flashlights to make it easier to see.

"Powers out, move it!" commanded Vince.

Everyone scrambled to their feet as Vince ran over to a metal door, he grabbed the handle and pulled back on it to unlock the door into an alleyway. Vince aimed is rifle down both ways of the alleyway, he checked that both sides were clear. The alleyway was completely devoid of life. Vince then sprinted to the end and the others followed. They stopped and looked at the gate, it was still closed.

"What the fuck is taking him so long?" cursed Vince.

Suddenly, a large grey six-wheeled truck smashed through the gate and rolled into the middle of the street. Everyone nearly fell backwards in shock as Fox casually walked out of the gate; he was covered in bucketfuls of blood and bits of flesh.

"What are you waiting for? We still have a load of shit bags to take out," shouted Fox.

Everyone rushed through the gate, all over the floor were several torn up bodies of the guards. Some had their limbs torn off while others had their insides ripped out. Large pools of blood covered the ground near each of the bodies.

Suddenly, not long after entering they came under heavy enemy fire. A group of five heavily armed guards were standing near one of the barracks'. Bullets and laser flew towards the group of Protectors as they dropped to the ground to avoid them; unfortunately, three were hit and fell lifelessly to the floor.

Fox grabbed the machine gun and several clips of one of the Protector bodies and opened fire while slowly walking in the direction of the guards. Some of the bullets struck one of the guards and tore through his armour; one went straight through his right eye. The other guards turned their attention towards Fox as their comrade's body fell to the ground.

Lasers and bullets flew through from their weapons towards Fox. They tore into Fox's flesh, but Fox remained standing. Fox then turned his machine gun on a second guard and pulled the trigger, the second guard was knocked backwards into the side of the barracks', leaving a bloody stain on the wall as it slide down it.

Realising that their shots weren't working, the remaining guards began to retreat. Unfortunately, they were caught in a barrage of laser and bullet fire from the protectors who were now on their feet. Vince raised his arm and activated his earpiece:

"Base, entrance is secure, bring in reinforcements, over," he said.

"Roger, sending reinforcements, out."

Vince lowered his arm and walked over to Fox, who was pulling lose bullets out of his body. Vince watched in amazement and shock as the bullet holes rapidly healed over when the bullets were removed and how the fur burnt from the laser fire was able to grow again. Fox noticed Vince watching him.

"Don't ask." Growled Fox as the last bullet fell out of his body by itself. "Did you want something?"

"I've called for reinforcements, I want you to find as many guards as you can and eliminate them. We'll remain here until reinforcements arrive." Ordered Vince.

"Consider them dead."

-x-x-x-

A squad of five guards were running through the maze of containers. They were heading for entrance after hearing gunfire and an explosion. They turned right at a corner and saw the shadowy figure of a vulpine standing at the end of the path. They froze and aimed their weapons at the vulpine. The vulpine charged straight at them. All of them pulled the triggers on their weapons, lasers and bullets flew through the air and into the vulpine. However, the vulpine remained unaffected by the shots and continued running towards them.

The vulpine leaped into the air and landed on the first guard, a dark red toad. The sound of bones breaking echoed as the toad was crushed between the ground and the vulpine. The vulpine then ran forward and punched a second guard, a black and white cat, in the chest with its right fist. The vulpine's fist shot out through the guards back, sending blood, bits of muscle, bone and lungs flying out.

The three remaining backed away, trembling with fear. The vulpine turned to face them, it removed its fist, and the guards watched in shock as its hands changed into claws. The vulpine charged at a brown bulldog guard and tore off the guards head with his left claw, by slicing apart the guard's neck.

The two remaining guards, a white ape and a grey wolf, turned around and sprinted for their lives. The vulpine chased after as they ran through the maze of containers.

"What the fuck is thing?" screamed the vulpine.

"How the fuck would I know?" replied the ape loudly.

They ran left and right down the dark passages in an attempt to escape whatever was after them. Soon they made it out of the container area and were greeted by several more squads outside; behind the guards were four small buildings, one of them having a small communications tower. All of them raised their weapons and aimed at the two terrified guards.

"What happened? Where are the rest of your squad?" demanded a husky in a deep voice.

The wolf just uttered strange babbling noises, while the ape attempted to regain his breath. Soon, the ape spoke.

"There'sgaspthere's something in there." The ape managed to say. "It butchered the rest of our squad in sec..."

The ape was cut off suddenly; his head had exploded by a metal pole, which was still sticking out of what remained of his head, blood poured out like a crimson fountain, pieces of flesh, skull and brains covered the ground near his body. The body remained standing for several seconds before collapsing to the floor.

The other guard looked around in panic, trying to find what did this. Suddenly, the wolf noticed the vulpine on top of the containers.

"THERE!" he shouted, pointing at it, "THERE'S THE BASTARD!"

The other guards saw what he was pointing at. All of them aimed their weapons at the vulpine and pulled the triggers. Lasers and bullets shot straight towards the vulpine, but before they made contact, the vulpine leaped from the container and landed on the ground in a crouched position. A loud bang could be heard and the ground cracked from the impact of the landing. The guards ceased fire immediately; they looked at the vulpine as it began to slowly stand up.

Immediately, they aimed their weapons at the vulpine and opened fire. The vulpine however, just shrugged off the bullets and laser fire as they made contact with his flesh. Suddenly, the vulpine charged through the fire and turned his hands into claws. The vulpine tore his claws into the nearest guards abdominal and ripped out his intestines. Several guards had their limbs sliced off by the vulpine razor sharp claws, while others had their flesh peeled from their bones.

The remaining guards began to retreat back to the buildings, while laying heavy fire on the vulpine. The husky emptied the current clip in his machine gun on the vulpine, and then turned towards the wolf.

"Get to the Emergency Com Station, call in back up!" barked the Husky.

"But the bloody powers out, how am I to use it?" yelled the wolf.

"It has its own back up supply. NOW MOVE IT!"

The wolf span on his heels and made his way towards the building with the communications tower. The husky then reloaded his clip and opened fire on the vulpine as it ripped the torso of a nearby guard off from his hips. Blood and flesh splattered over the vulpine as it threw away the guards torso. The 9 remaining guards retreated towards the com station while stilling at the vulpine.

The vulpine lifted up one of the guards corpses and threw it at them. The body zipped through the air, causing them to brake for cover. However, a grey bat was unable to get for cover and was hit by the body, knocking the bat down and the body resting on top. The vulpine then used his claws to tear out the insides of three nearby guards; the first one had his skull torn out from his head, causing his eyeballs and brains to ooze out through his eye sockets, the second had his entire rib cage ripped from his chest along with his lungs and his flesh. The final guard had his upper torso cut off from his hips, his insides flying out of as both parts of his body landed on the floor.

Four of the remaining guards scrambled to their feet and instantly opened on the vulpine. However, they were quickly eviscerated by the vulpines' claws. The bat then pushed off the body that was on top of it and charged at the vulpine. Using his machine gun as a club, the bat began to bash it against the vulpine. The bat swung one more time, however, the vulpine slicing the gun into several pieces. The bat gasped and was frozen in place. The vulpine then sliced into the bats neck, sending the head flying.

The husky was now the only guard left, he backed towards the metal door of the com station while firing his machine gun at the vulpine. The vulpine slowly walked through the line of fire, the bullets ripped into his flesh, but they did nothing to slow him down.

Suddenly, the husky's machine gun was out of ammo, causing the husky to chuck it at the vulpine, who blocked it with his left arm. The husky reached for his belt and drew a blaster with his right hand, he aimed it at the vulpine's head and fired. A single shot hit the vulpine above his right eye, but he continued to slowly make his way towards the husky. The husky was now pressed against the door, he fired a second shot, it hit the vulpine's chest, but had no effect. The vulpine was now inches from him, the husky aimed the blaster at the head again and was about to fire.

Suddenly, the vulpine grabbed his right wrist; the husky felt vulpine's grip crush his wrist, the sound of bones slowly breaking could be heard over the sound of distant gunfire as the vulpine tightened his grip. The husky's blaster fell out of his hand as it opened. The husky grit his teeth before yelling out loud as the vulpine crushed his wrist in its hand.

-x-x-x-

Inside the com station, the wolf had sealed the door so that it wouldn't open from the outside. He could here the sounds of gunfire echoing outside. Inside was a small radio system that was on top of a desk, a computer was on another desk next to it, and a single locker that held repair parts and tools. He sat down in front of a radio system and placed the headset over his head.

"This is an emergency broadcast to all Death Bringers, from shipping yard: 082! We have fallen under attack by heavy enemy forces! Requesting assistance!"

The wolf then heard a sudden yell from just outside the door, he continued his message.

"Repeat, we are under attack!"

A bloody fist and arm shot through the door, the wolf jumped out of the seat. He stared at the fist, before it retreated into the hole. The wolf grabbed his rifle and aimed it at the door. Suddenly, the door was ripped clean of from the wall, to reveal the vulpine, holding the door in his right hand. The vulpine threw the door away before stepping in. The wolf opened fire with his machine gun; the bullets tore across the vulpine's body but the vulpine remained standing.

Soon, the wolf's machine gun ran out of bullets. Before he could reload, the vulpine grabbed him by the neck and lifted him into the air. He felt his windpipe close as the vulpine tightened his grip.

"I...I've gaspcalled for...regaspinforcements." He managed to say. "You...don't stand...a chance."

The vulpine tightened his grip.

"Let them come."

And with that, the vulpine snapped the wolf's neck. Fox chucked the wolf's body away and activated his earpiece.

"Vince, what's your status?"

"We've eliminated all of the guards and have started loading up some of gear into some trucks, other garrisons have sent their own forms of transport to help out."

"Well, tell them to hurry up. One of these dickheads was able to call in support."

"Then get back here, I'll inform the hideout."

-x-x-x-

Fox sprinting and jumping over the tops of the containers, he heard the sounds of shouting and engines, meaning he was nearing the entrance. He reached the end of the container maze and jumped down, catching the protectors off guard.

Fox looked around; some of the troops were cutting open the containers to gain access to the cargo inside. Others were loading them up into the trucks and the rest were behind several makeshift barriers near the gate, armed to the teeth with rifles, machine guns and rocket launchers. Behind one of the barriers was Vince and Leah, Fox ran up to them.

"When will back up be here?" asked Fox.

"In 20 minutes" replied Vince.

"We don't have 20 minutes! We need to get this stuff loaded up NOW!"

"We're doing all we can, Fox!" said Leah, "But we are in real shit, the containers are difficult to cut into and we have to pack up what's left in the hideout."

Fox just growled as they walked away. Leah started to help load some of the cargo while Vince and several other troops ran out through the gate towards the alleyway opposite.

"DEATH BRINGERS!" yelled a trooper.

Everyone froze as ten large grey trucks and six armoured jeeps with a turret on top of their roofs drove towards the entrance. On top of each jeep was a heavy mounted machine gun, manned by a Death Bringer. Ten Death Bringers jumped out the back of each truck, Fox noticed that their armour was similar to what was used by 'Ghost Company', only they weren't wearing helmets and there was a picture of a white fox skull with a large crack on the top of the skull, on their chests. Their weapons were also similar to what was used by 'Ghost Company'.

The Protectors ran for cover as the Death Bringers opened fire. Bright red lasers and bullet were flying everywhere. The protectors then returned fire, but their weaponry had little effect compared to the weapons their enemies were using. A jaguar was hit by a red laser from a Death Bringer and instantly disintegrated into a pile of burning ash. One protector aimed a rocket launcher at one of the jeeps, she pulled the trigger, and a missile flew through the and into the jeep. It exploded in an inferno, sending three Death Bringers into the ground. Some Death Bringers were equipped with grenade launchers and were creating small explosions near some of the protectors.

"Continue loading the trucks, I'll take care of these assholes!" roared Fox, as his hands became claws and his eyes glowed red.

He jumped out from behind the barrier and charged at the Death Bringers. He then leaped into the air and landed on one, crushing him beneath his feet. Fox then started eviscerating others nearby as they focused much of their fire power on him. This allowed some of the Protectors armed with rocket launchers to fire on the vehicles. After ripping out the heart of another Death Bringer, Fox grabbed the front of one of the jeeps and lifted it above his head, shocking the Protectors and Death Bringers alike. He then launched it into a truck, creating a giant fire ball that consumed roughly ten Death Bringers.

Fox turned around to see a vulture Death Bringer, several feet away from him, aim his machine at him. Before Fox could move, the vulture was gunned downed in the back. Fox watched as the body dropped then turned his gaze to see Vince and four other Protectors. Unfortunately, several Death Bringers opened fire on the protectors, killing two of them, while a jeep fired on Fox. Fox charged at the jeep while Vince and the other trooper, a crocodile, retreated back to the alleyway.

Fox climbed on top of the jeep and yanked out the gunner on the machine gunner, grabbed one of his grenades and tossed him away. He activated the grenade and dropped it down into the jeep through the turret. Fox jumped off the truck, just as flames burst out through the windows and turret. Everywhere outside the entrance was brightly lit up from the flames of burning wrecks and bodies.

Vince and the crocodile fired at the Death Bringers from their point in the alley way. Vince then dashed out and ducked behind a burnt out wrecked jeep. The croc followed but was hit a by a laser and burned to ashes before Vince's' eyes. Vince fired from his post again before moving to the wrecked truck that had been used by Fox to open the gate. Fox saw his predicament and rushed over to the five Death Bringers that were firing on him. But before he reached them, Vince broke from cover and sprinted towards the gate, he got closer with every step, he nearly reached the gate when a laser shot through his back. Fox watched as Vince burned and collapsed into a pile of ash.

Fox was filled with rage; he fell his rage burn deep inside as he charged at the Death Bringers and started to rip them apart. Limbs were sent flying, flesh splattered everywhere and blood stained the ground as he continued his rampage. Suddenly, he heard a voice on his communicator, it was Leah.

"Fox, fall back to the entrance, things have gotten out of hand, and there is no way we're staying."

"What about the reinforcements?"

"We've agreed to rendezvous with them at a place not too far away from here. But we need you to cover us."

"What the rest of the weapons?"

"We found a very powerful bomb; we've armed it and need to leave before it blows in 20 minutes!"

"Fine" muttered Fox.

Fox returned to the entrance and killed the eight Death Bringers who were taking shots at the Protectors as they got onboard the trucks. Fox continued to kill the Death Bringers just as each truck left the shipping yard. Soon the last truck slowed down by the entrance to allow Fox to get on board.

Fox jumped on the back of the truck and clambered in with the help of two protectors, a lemur and stallion, inside. As soon as he was in, the stallion banged on the back, behind the trailer, resulting in the truck picking up speed.

The rest of the Death Bringers returned to the remaining vehicles and gave chase. The vehicles they had working were two jeeps and six trucks. Suddenly, there was a large explosion from the container area within the shipping yard, containers flew into the air and crashed into the ground and some buildings. One landed on a Death Bringer truck, crushing it and it occupants. Another container landed in front of a second truck, the driver made a hard left to avoid it, but as he did, the truck tipped onto its side and rolled into the burning container.

The Protectors convoy raced through the streets of the abandoned area, followed by the battered Death Bringer armour unit. Both groups made twists and turns along the dark roads of the abandoned area.

Fox felt the truck make a hard right and then brake suddenly. He looked out the back to see several armed protectors run behind the truck to take cover behind several barriers that were made from random bits of junk.

"Come on, we're not finished!" said the stallion in a deep voice as he clambered out of the truck, followed by the lemur.

Fox clambered the back out of the truck to see they had stopped in a disused construction site. A metal wall ran around the perimeter of the site. In the middle was the incomplete metal frame of a skyscraper. Large piles of scrap metal could be seen in the far corners of the site, and in one of the corners where several heavily weathered construction robots of different sizes were rusting away. The smallest robots were of normal height with a humanoid form, with four robotic arms and had rusted, peeling, yellow paint. The larger models had a humanoid torso attached to a sloped base that held a pair of caterpillar tracks. Two large arms with three metal fingers each were attached to the torso. A head the size of a small boulder with a single smashed eye lens in the middle of it, rested on top.

Protectors were moving to makeshift walls or any object that could supply cover. Some of them were filthy and pretty banged up, while the rest were clean and fresh. Everyone was checking that their weapons were loaded. Soon the Death Bringers appeared around a bend and stopped in front of the entrance to the site.

"Open fire!" ordered Leah.

Lasers and bullets barraged the Death Bringer vehicles, only to have little effect. The gunners on the two jeeps returned fire as they got closer to the site. The trucks slowed down to drop off the remaining Death Bringers. The area was ablaze with laser fire and explosions as the two sides fought to destroy each other.

Fox charged straight at the Death Bringers, and proceeded to rip them apart with his claws. He sliced off the top half of a silver fox's head, and ripped off the jaw of a tiger. He then jumped onto one of the armoured jeeps and ripped the gunner out of the turret before climbing inside. No sooner had he entered, blood and pieces of flesh splattered over all of the windows like a thick, crimson paint. He then clambered out through the turret, his fur was heavily stained by blood and had pieces of flesh stuck on it.

Most of the protectors broke cover and charged at the remaining Death Bringers. One fired a rocket launcher at several Death Bringers, who had taken cover behind one of the trucks. The missile struck the truck, destroying it and sending the burnt Death Bringers flying in different directions.

The gunner on the last jeep, yellow-green lizard, began slaughtering them in large numbers, while they tried to get rid of him. He was enjoying himself watching as multiple protectors moved out and were caught in his line of fire. Suddenly, he felt the jeep lift and watched the front rise into the air, nearly causing him to fall out. He slowly turned around in the turret to see Fox McCloud holding the rear of the jeep in mid air above his head. Then Fox threw the jeep backwards, the roof of it slammed into the ground, crushing the gunner and causing his blood to trickle through the gap between the road and jeep.

Fox looked to see roughly seventeen Death Bringers huddled behind a wrecked truck as the protectors kept them pinned down through their constant fire. He sprinted towards and leaped over the truck, taking the Death Bringers by complete surprise. His left claw sliced open the head of a black pit-bull, while his right tore into the head of a pale white pig.

The others scrambled in different directions to get away from Fox, eight of them were gunned down by the Protectors, while the remaining seven stopped to open fire on Fox. Fox dashed forward and ripped out the lungs of the nearest Death Bringer, before tearing out the spine of another through their chest.

He then ripped the flesh off the head of a cat and pulled off the arms of a brown bear. Next, he began to beat a panther to death with the bear's arms, leaving only a rhino and a raven.

The rhino charged at Fox with the horn aimed at him, but before it could strike, Fox grabbed the rhino's horn and snapped it off, and then Fox stabbed the rhino in the right eye with its own horn. He pushed deeper into the rhinos head; ignoring the yells and shakes of agony from the rhino as the horn went through, soon the rhino stopped yelling and shaking. Fox pushed his body away and slowly walked up to the raven.

The raven backed away, but stumbled backwards and landed on the floor. Fox grabbed the raven's leg and lifted him into the air; the raven kicked about and waved his arms as he was suspended above the ground. Fox grabbed one of his arms, lifted him above his head and pulled. The raven screamed at the top of his voice, the sound of bones braking could be heard over his screams. Suddenly, the raven's hips separated from his torso, causing blood, organs and muscles to spray everywhere over Fox. He threw the ravens pieces away and slowly made his way back towards the protectors location.

He felt the eyes of the surviving protectors staring at him as he made his towards one of the trucks, where Leah was waiting.

"What now?"Asked Fox.

"Uh...we need to get the cargo back to HQ... the commander will decide what to do with it." Replied Leah, she was struggling to keep herself from throwing up, because of the state Fox was in.

"Then you're driving."

Fox walked over to the passenger's side of the truck and clambered inside. Leah got in through the driver's side and started the engine.

"Wake me up when we're there," said Fox as he closed his eyes.

Leah put the truck in reverse to turn around, and then drove out of the construction site, heading for the Protectors HQ.

**There you are a crap chapter for a crap story. Anyway, say what you think, no matter how negative it is.**


	5. War for Kew: Part 2

**Here is chapter 5, I know it has been a long time but let explain. First I had started doing a new story, and then I thought 'fuck it' and decided to do this chapter. But then my computer decides to crash, deleting my work so I have to redo it again. Only for it to be corrupted and I'm back at square one. Anyway here's chapter 5.**

"We're here, Fox," said Leah.

Fox slowly opened his eyes; he looked out the front windscreen to see the ruined factory. Slowly, he opened the truck door and stepped out of the truck. As he did, three protectors ran past him to the back of the truck. He looked around to see Leah heading inside the factory and chased after her.

-x-x-x-

Fox and Leah were in the underground chamber, making their way towards the commander. As they made their way through the large numbers of Protectors, Fox could feel they're eyes staring at him, at all the blood and flesh that covered him.

Soon, they were near the commanders area, the Commander had his back to them, looking over a large map that was pinned up on the wall behind the desk, not realising they were there. Leah cleared her throat and the commander spun round almost instantly.

"Commander, I can report that we succeeded in taking a fairly large amount of equipment, but we had more than expected casualties." Reported Leah.

"I have been informed Leah," sighed the Commander, "Such a same, so much death, for so little gain."

"Not trying to offend," put in Fox, "But I helped you, so you must hold up your end of the agreement."

The hooded head turned to face Fox; who stared into the black emptiness underneath the hood. The Commander then turned to Leah.

"Leah, you are dismissed."

Leah saluted before walking off, the Commander returned his attention to Fox.

"What you have done Fox is just the tip of the iceberg," said the Commander.

"We had a deal!" burst out Fox, "I said I would help you in return you'd give me Nova."

"And you will get him; my spies are busy trying to track him down."

"Well, tell them to hurry up."

"You don't quite get it do you, your actions are going to help them in tracking him down."

"Explain."

"Nova's a greedy coward; he will react to anything that threatens him or his power. Based on what I have heard, you've made quite a mess, Nova's going to react to that when he hears and that's going to scare him, and if it scares him, it affects his judgement.

"So your plan is to scare him out of hiding?"

"Something like, you up for some more carnage."

"If he shows his ugly mug, I'm in."

-x-x-x-

A black panther in Death Bringer armour walked through a dark, grey, metal corridor. Small white lights ran along the walls producing very minimum light. The panther's footsteps echoed with each step he took. Ahead was a large metal door guarded by five heavily armed Death Bringers. All of the guards wore the standard armour and helmet, each of them had never before seen weapons that looked like heavily modified machine guns.

"Where do you think you're going?" asked one of the guards in a smug tone.

"Out of my way, bastards!" roared the panther, scaring the guards when they realised who it was.

"R-R-Reaper?" stuttered the guard, "Let him through!"

One of the guards ran to the terminal beside the door and began pressing a few buttons. Soon, the door opened, allowing Reaper to enter.

Inside was a dark room that had black walls and floor. On the left was a large plasma screen TV with three black, leather chairs. On the right was a rather large mini-bar with many different kinds of bottles of different sizes next to a door. Ahead was a black desk that had a computer and several sheets of paper sprawled across. Behind the desk, sitting in a black leather swivel chair, was an obese, pink pig in a business suit. Nova's eyes looked up from the computer screen to see Reaper walking over to him.

"Reaper! What are you doing here?" asked a surprised Nova.

"Bad news boss, some assholes decided to trash one of our shipping yards and that new weapons shipment your contact sent us." Replied Reaper with a hint of anger in his voice.

Nova's mouth dropped and his fists slammed into the desk as he stood up. His eyes were burning with anger and his teeth barred.

"WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS ATTACK!" roared a frenzied Nova.

"Don't know yet boss, but these pricks were ferocious in this attack, most of our boys were ripped to shreds. What should we do?" asked Reaper.

Nova began pacing behind his desk with his arms crossed, muttering to himself. Soon, he stopped and turned to face Reaper.

"If they want to play rough, we'll play rough, get the word out, I want every last one of those gangs hunted down and eliminated. I don't care who target, or how you do it, just get FUCKING RID OF THEM!"

"With pleasure, Boss."

Reaper spun round on his heels and made his way out the door, leaving behind a fuming Nova. Nova return to his desk and sat down.

"_I better inform Stone of this development'_ he thought to himself.

He pressed a few buttons on the computer and waited. Soon, the image of a black haired ape in a black generals uniform appeared on screen.

"Nova? What is the meaning of this?" asked General Stone.

"The shipment you sent has been destroyed, I need another." Replied Nova.

"How was it destroyed?" asked Stone in a shocked tone.

"One gang decided to play dirty."

"How could you let a load of high tech weapons be destroyed by a bunch of reckless, undisciplined retards? This is unacceptable!"

"They're getting more and more daring, now, about that shipment..."

"You will not be getting another shipment; you'll have to make do with what you got."

Nova's eyes nearly popped out at that last statement.

"Hold on, Stone! I need those weapons to fulfil my role in Ghost Company!" Yelled Nova.

"Your role is to supply Ghost Company with basic resources, not excuses." Replied Stone in an annoyed tone.

"My pirates are getting those resources like I promised."

"We cannot afford to waste resources Nova. McCloud's escape has already delayed our plans, and has cost us valuable resources."

"And if I can't control Kew, then..."

Nova froze, his eyes widened and his jaw began to quiver. A wave of horror washed over him, he realised how this gang were successful in their attack.

"He's here," he muttered, Stone couldn't make out what he was saying.

"What?"

"He's here! McCloud's here! On Kew! He's working with that gang! I can't stay here, he'll kill me! You've got to get me off this planet!"

"I'll send for Captain Vander to collect you. He'll be there within four days."

"Can't you send him here faster, or someone else?"

"Vander is the only one of us I can send without suspicion. Is there a place you can hide until he arrives?"

"Yes, but only one will be able to prevent McCloud from reaching me. I'll contact you when I arrive."

"Understood, out."

-x-x-x-

(2 days later)

Falco sat down on the blue couch in his apartment and switched on the TV. The walls of the apartment were a dark blue, and a dark blue carpet covered the floor. Opposite the couch in the far corner was the TV; next to it was a sliding glass door that led onto a small balcony. Beside the couch was a small table which held a large number of photos perched on it, some of them were of the Star Fox team, and others were of Star Falco.

The living room was connected to the kitchen, which had a white tiled floor and cupboards with a black glossy surface. Part of the surface was used as a table with four metal stools underneath. There was a metal sink build into the surface, with a chrome fridge in the far corner. There were other appliances like a chrome coffee machine and a white plastic microwave.

Between the kitchen and living room was a corridor, with a pink feline in a white, baggy night shirt and tight red shorts.

"Morning Falco," uttered Katt through a yawn, as she walked over to the kitchen.

"Morning Katt," replied Falco, before returning to the TV.

Katt opened the cupboard underneath the coffee machine, and pulled out a mug. She grabbed the jug from the machine and began to pour the coffee.

"See you've been for a jog," she said as looked at his red t-shirt and grey jogging shorts. Falco however, didn't reply, his attention was glued to the screen. Katt noticed and focused hers as well.

On the TV was the news, with a red squirrel wearing a grey suit, sitting at a white desk, with several images of the different planets in Lylat.

"_Our top story this morning, gang violence on Kew is dangerously on the increase. It all started a few days ago when a heavily armed hang launched an attack against a Nova-Corp Star Port, killing the security guards and destroyed the site and half-a-million credits worth of medical supplies. This has been followed by more violent clashes between the gangs, which have lead to destroyed areas and untold numbers of dead. Whether the Cornerian military will be able to respond to this is unknown, due to large numbers of rebel Venom force and the upcoming visit from Venom's leader, Dash Bowman. In other news..."_

Falco sighed and switched of the TV, he didn't want to hear about the rebels that were hiding at the edge of the Lylat system. He turned to face the photos on the table next him, and sighed again. When the battle above Venom ended, the Star Fox team was disbanded; Slippy went on to marry Amanda, Krystal was now a flight instructor at the Academy, and Falco, Katt and Dash had started a new mercenary team, Star Falco. However, when Venom was defeated, Dash left the team to lead Venom and end the hostilities.

"We'll make them pay," he said to the photo of Fox.

"When are we gonna start recruiting?" asked Katt.

"Today," replied Falco in a stern voice.

-x-x-x-

Fox was sitting in the back of a truck with thirteen other Protectors; it wasn't a very comfy ride. Fox had given all of the cargo on his shuttle to the Protectors. A fifth of the equipment had been given to the Protectors for this mission. Everyone was wearing Ghost Company armour which was leaving very little room to breathe, and the weapons didn't help either, but they were vital for the mission.

Their mission was to rescue a spy who had been working undercover as a Death Bringer, and had been captured by a gang of slavers known as the Hunters. The Hunters were infamous for abducting people and selling them off as slaves, while they weren't picky about who they captured, they had a preference for members from rival gangs, so they could weaken their rivals manpower and make a larger profit. The Protectors had made many attempts to rescue the slaves in the past, while not always being successful; many of those they rescued had joined their ranks.

However, failure wasn't an option this time. The spy they were looking for had vital information regarding the location of Max Nova. First they had to rendezvous with the Protectors who would be responsible for transporting the slaves out, before launching the attack.

The only two not wearing helmets other than Fox were Black-Wing and Leah, which showed the anxiety that was written over their faces, and it could be felt in the atmosphere. The Death Bringers had been on a barbaric rampage against everyone for the destruction, and unknown to them, theft, of their weapons, this caused the other gangs to retaliate in the same manner, while sending the Protectors deeper into the shadows, making small tactical strikes against the gangs.

Suddenly, the truck made a hard turn to right, shaking everyone up on the inside, before coming to a sudden stop. The back opened up and everyone began to scramble out. Fox was the last one out; he looked round to see he was in another one of Kew's abandoned areas. Dark ruined buildings stood either side, shrouding the street in the darkness of there shadows.

Fox looked over everyone and saw Black-Wing walking up to an old garage. The walls looked frail and weak, most of the windows had been smashed and the two large doors for cars and alike were badly rusted. Black-Wing walked up to a small door that was for personnel, he banged against the door twice, then rapidly three times. After a few seconds, the door opened and a leopard wearing worn set of combat armour appeared.

They began to talk in a quiet tone; Fox honed his hearing in on their conversation, whatever Ghost Company did, seemed to have given him more than just claws.

"Who are we going after?" asked Black-wing.

"His codename is Renegade; he's a white Labrador, roughly six feet tall and is in his early thirties." Said the leopard, he spoke in a deep gravelly voice.

"Anything we should know about this place then?"

The leopard stared at Black-Wing with his hard brown eyes.

"This is one of the Hunters largest hide outs; they have secured a warehouse and the courtyard and are using them to store a large number of slaves. The areas been fenced off and there are four guard towers to prevent escape and repel attackers, the roads to and from the area are guarded with road blocks but they are meant to slow down the advance. One last thing, recently there have been sightings of Death Bringer scouts in the area, and that means troubles on its way."

"So we need to move fast, what's the status on your end?"

"We've got most of our shit packed up, and roughly twenty vehicles at the ready."

"Finish packing up, we'll move on ahead and clear out most of the Hunters."

With their conversation over, Black-Wing turned around and walked back to the strike team, while the leopard disappeared into the garage. Black-wing called the squad in and began to brief them on the situation, despite already knowing, Fox continued to hang onto every word. With the brief over, Black-Wing and Leah put their helmets on.

Soon, the squad were walking up the dark street to the Hunter compound. Everyone was looking over their shoulders and shadow engulfed buildings for any sighs of a trap. They continued on, through the pieces of rubbish that were blowing to and fro across the street, until they could see bright lights ahead of them. Everyone dashed to the nearest hiding spot to avoid them, Fox and some others hid alleyways while the rest hid behind rubbish piles.

Ahead was an improvised barricade that had been made from large piles of broken objects and twisted metal, protecting the five Hunters behind it. Two large search lights could be seen at either end, their glares destroying the shadows. Large metal poles stuck out of the wall, their ends had been sharpened like spear tips, a primitive but effect method at temporary slowing down an enemy.

"Fox, clear that roadblock," ordered Black-Wing.

Fox waited for the search light to move away from the alley, before moving out. When it did, Fox quickly stepped out of the alleyway and sprinted to the barricade. With only a few feet between him and the barricade, using only a part of his strength, Fox leaped into the air. He flew over the wall, stuck his legs out and aimed for the middle hunter, a vulture. He came down, his feet making contact with the Hunters chest, sending him to the floor. Fox placed left hand on the Hunters face to steady himself as he landed, the sound of bones breaking echoed as they made contact with the floor. The other four Hunters were caught completely off guard, in a panic; they reached for their weapons and took aim.

Fox turned to the right to face the nearest Hunter; he knocked his rifle away with his right hand, sending him into a spin before stabbing him in the back with his left claw. Fox removed his claw, allowing the body to fall lifelessly, and charged at the hunter behind the one he killed. He through an uppercut strike into the Hunters stomach with his left, the clawed fingers slicing the flesh open like cheese as they moved up from his stomach to just below his throat, lift up his body slightly.

Spotting a blaster in a holster on the belt, Fox drew it with his right hand, spun round and fired three lasers at a grey rat, hitting him in the right knee, left shoulder, and finally crotch. He aimed the blaster at the last hunter, a pigeon; both had their weapons aimed at the other, though if both of them pulled the trigger, Fox's shot was most likely to make contact. He sneered at the pigeon, who was struggling to stop quivering, a dark patch appeared on his trousers at the crotch, a dark line ran down his left leg and a yellow pool formed beside his left boot, as the pigeon stared at Fox in horror. Satisfied with how scared he was, Fox checked his aimed and fired. A single beam zipped through the air and burned into the pigeon's right eye. He chuckled as the body collapsed to the floor, before removing his claws from the hunter suspended on his hand, allowing it to drop.

With the surrounding Hunters dead, Fox walked up to the middle the wall and stood right behind it, lifted up his left leg and with a good kick, destroyed the wall, sending parts of it flying forward. The strike team broke from their hiding spots and regrouped with Fox, before moving on towards the slave compound.

-x-x-x-

The Strike team reached the end of the dark road and came into view of the slave compound. There was a large warehouse with an even larger courtyard. The entire complex was surrounded by a fence, with four guard towers, two by the gate and one on each side. The entire courtyard was littered cages that were filled with anthropomorphic people of different species. Hunters equipped with high quality weapons and armour were patrolling outside the fence and between the cages.

"Engage," ordered Black-wing.

The protectors dashed out from behind the corner and opened fire against the four Hunters guarding the gate, catching them off guard and killing them before they could react. However, those in the guard towers were able to react and fire their mounted machine guns at the strike team.

One protector threw a grenade that landed near the base of the tower left of the gate, it exploded, destroying the fence and taking out the front two legs of the tower. The tower shook from the impact of the blast before toppling forward and smashing into the ground, the gunner was crushed underneath the wreckage.

Fox began to feel something burning inside of him; his anger flowing through him like water, his body was filled with energy, waiting to be released. He swung his rifle onto his back, broke cover and charged through the barrages of lasers and bullets towards the other tower. He leaped into the air and grabbed the railing of the tower with his right hand; he pulled himself up and stabbed the gunner in the neck with two clawed fingers on his left hand. The hunter's eyes were wide; blood trickled from the punctured neck and bubbled from his mouth. Fox pushed with his claws, sending the hunter staggering back, he removed his claws as the hunter's body stepped off the back and fell to the floor.

Fox clambered into the tower and glared at the Hunters below with glowing red eyes. He dropped from the tower; there was a loud bang as his feet made contact with the ground, cracking it. The noise drew the attention of the whole area. Several Hunters fired on Fox, who began ripping and tearing apart everyone who stood in his way. Heads and other limbs were sent flying, blood stain the ground.

More and more Hunters focused on Fox, completely ignoring the incoming fire from the Protectors. The Protectors saw the weakness in their defence, and exploited it. They charged straight towards to the blown open part of the fence, weapons burning with laser fire. By the time the Hunters realised their error, it was too late, the Protectors had stormed through the gap and laid waste to any Hunters who was lucky to survive Fox's wrath. Everyone was making careful shots to avoid the slaves, the Protectors didn't kill innocents and Hunters didn't want to damage their stock.

Despite the Hunters having the advantage in numbers, along with modern weapons and armour of good quality, it was nothing compared to the highly advanced technological equipment wielded by the Protectors. Their armour absorbing much of the damage from the Hunters 'primitive' weapons, while their own burned through the Hunters as if they were paper.

As more and more of their own fell in large numbers to the well equipped Protectors and rampaging Fox, the Hunters began route towards the warehouse, with a few stubborn members staying to get slaughtered. One Protector charged after them and gunned down four Hunters, but succumbed to the firepower returned by the routing Hunters.

With all of the Hunters trapped inside the warehouse, the area was once again quite. Only to be disturbed by the roaring engines of the Protectors vehicles that had arrived to take the slaves away. Fox cast his gaze over all of the cages to look at the slaves, as the Protectors began to free them. Inside each of the cages, were a dozen of dirty, skinny slaves of different species. Their skeleton was sticking out through their skin; as if their own skin had been stretched over their bones. They clothes were tattered and filthy, and a horrible smell rose from them. Dried blood, dirt and large bruises could be seen everywhere on their body.

Fox grabbed one of the doors on a cage with his hands and pulled, ripping from its hinges and threw it away. One prisoner, a grey bullfrog slowly limped out of the cage, grabbed his hand left hand and shook it vigorously, with a large grin on his face and a twinkle in his tired eyes.

"T-t-thank you," he spoke in a slow, faint voice. Fox made a small smile in return.

Another prisoner, a white vixen with long grey hair, quickly limped out and grabbed Fox by the neck, pressing herself into him. Fox felt uncomfortable from her breasts squeezed against him. After some effort, she let go of Fox and followed the rest of the free prisoners, but winked at Fox before leaving. Fox thought she was lucky Krystal wasn't here; she would have killed the vixen.

Fox walked up to another cage and removed its door when Black-wing walked up to him.

"Disgusting, isn't it?" he said in disgust.

"Yeah, but why are they like this, if they planned on selling these people, why leave them in such a poor state?" asked Fox.

"Surplus stock, for people tight on credits and for short term labour, they sell one for 50 credits or a dozen 500."

"How do you now that?"

"I've seen many of these places, more than I would like in a lifetime. This is what I meant about the evil having the power when I tried to recruit you."

An old grey rabbit slowly stepped out of the cage a walked up to the pair. He pointed at the warehouse.

"Others...mercenaries, gang members...the 'good' stock," he spoke in a raspy voice before a Protector arrived to lead him away.

"Renegade will most likely be in there, come on." Said Black-wing.

While the prisoners were being transported to safety by the Protectors, the strike team ran up to the door of the warehouse. Fox slowly reached out for the handle, and then quickly opened the door. Inside it was nearly pitch black, a tall staircase that lead to the upper levels of the warehouse. Everyone activated the torches on the end of their weapons, partially illuminating the staircase. Slowly, they made their way up the staircase, with Fox leading, carefully watching for any sign of a trap.

Soon they had reached the top of the staircase, ahead was a corridor that was a dark as the void of space. Half of the protectors shone their torches into the corridor, showing what was hidden by the void. The corridor appeared to be empty; one Protector slowly crept down the corridor towards the end. An uneasy silence filled the atmosphere, where were the Hunters who ran into the building? Had they fled through the back, or we're they pre-paring an ambush further down?

Fox steadied his breathing, listening for anything that seemed out of the ordinary. He could hear the breathing from the other Protectors, the slow footsteps from the Protector, the faint click of a machine gun...

A machine gun! How was that possible? Everyone had energy weapons, a click would only have been heard if someone reloaded, but no one did.

"GET BACK!" roared Fox, at the protector.

The Protector spun round, four Hunters appeared at the other end of the corridor, two were armed with machine guns and two armed with laser rifles. They opened fired and gunned down the unsuspecting Protector with a bombardment of laser and bullet fire. Fox drew his XK-47, and returned fire with the other Protectors against the four Hunters.

Parts of the walls were blown off at the Hunters end, due to the superior fire power of the Protectors weapons. Two Hunters were quickly killed, breaking the morale of the two remaining Hunters. The protectors charged after the Hunters, who had ran left down another corridor before turning right.

Fox sprinted ahead of the strike team and followed the Hunters down the right turn. He stopped to see where he was. He was on a catwalk on the far left side of the warehouse. There was another catwalk on the other side that was linked by several bridges. Below were several cages that held more slaves, but unlike the ones outside, these ones were fully clothed, clean and had some muscle on their bones. Unlike the corridors, the area had a few lights on, most of them were below the catwalks, aimed at the cages and a few hung from the ceiling.

Large numbers of Hunters were running across the catwalks and in-between the cages. They stopped when they saw Fox and opened fire. Fox stood his ground as the incoming projectiles, make contact with his armour. He could feel the faint stings from the shots that had most of their damage absorbed by his armour, resulting it the stings. With his XK-47 at his hip, Fox pulled the trigger and watched as the red lasers that were spewing out of the end mowed down whoever was caught in their path.

The other Protectors of the strike team joined Fox on the catwalk, their weapons burning with red lasers. Half focused on the Hunters running around on the catwalks, while the others concentrated those below, taking great care not to hit the trapped slaves.

After shooting a Hunter off the catwalk, and watching him do a backwards flip before hitting the ground, Fox placed his left hand on the railing of the catwalk and vaulted over. He landed in a free stance using his left hand and legs. Ahead were two Hunters who saw him land, and before they move, he fired his rifle single handily.

With those two gone, Fox went to the nearest cage and tore off the door, allowing a dozen prisoners to get out. Another group of five Hunters arrived from behind a cage, the prisoners pushed Fox aside ran towards them. Fox watched as the prisoners charged straight at the group, their anger could be seen burning in their eyes; their bared teeth could be seen through the snarls on their faces, all on it showed their thirst for vengeance.

The Hunter quickly opened fire on the free slaves. Fox watched in horror as all of them were gunned down mercilessly. Fox began to feel his anger and hatred burning inside of him again, only this time it was stronger. His green orbs turned blood red. The Hunters aimed and fired on him, he felt the pain breaching his armour growing stronger with each hit, but he remained standing, taking in all the pain and damage they could dish out.

Soon, the Hunters weapons ran out of ammo and Fox was still standing. Quickly, the Hunters reached for the nearest loaded clip to reload. Fox smirked evilly, his opening had come. He altered his hands into their claw form and ran into the group, with his claws out front.

He rammed his claws into the middle hunter's chest and slammed him into the back wall. Blood sprinted heavily out from the holes and landed on Fox's arms, small trails of blood began to dribble from his mouth. The four remaining Hunters froze, staring in terror at Fox. With the pinned Hunter only inches from death, Fox ripped his claws out through the sides of the Hunters body, sending large chunks of flesh and organs flying in both directions. Fox stepped back and watched the two parts of the Hunter, which were only held together through the spine, fell forward and the spine snap. Fox slowly turned around, blood smeared over his face, an evil grin plastered on his face.

Within a second, Fox slashed cross the neck of the nearest hunter, his claw nearly cut through the Hunters whole neck, sending the head backwards, causing a crimson fountain to erupt from the body while the head dangled from the back skin of his neck.

Fox moved to the next hunter and stabbed him in abdominal with his right claw, before tearing it out through the hunters chest and head. The shredded body fell to the floor; a large crimson pool of blood began to rapidly grow around the corpse.

The two remaining Hunters were now terrified, they had never seen anyone or anything attack in such an aggressive manner. One hunter successfully loaded his machine and opened fire in a blind panic. Fox felt the bullets collide with his body; he turned around and felt one bullet make contact above his right eye. Ignoring the pain, Fox dashed forward and grabbed the Hunters machine gun. He placed his right leg behind the hunters left and slid out from under it, taking out the leg in the process. The Hunter made contact with the cold hard floor, while he was dazed, Fox lifted his left leg and stamped on his face. The sound of bone cracking could be faintly heard through the sound gunfire.

In became too much for the last Hunter, as soon as Fox lifted his left foot off the dead Hunters face, the Hunter chucked his rifle away and was about to dart in the opposite direction. Suddenly, he felt a hand grab his right shoulder. He turned his head to see Fox's left hand on his shoulder for a split second, before he found himself flying through the air into the door of another cage. His body dropped, leaving an imprint bent into the bars.

With the group dead, Fox began tearing the doors off cages, freed slaves began the filled the passages and armed themselves with the weapons of their fallen captors. Soon, the Hunters had lost their advantage, the number of slaves was three times the size of their own garrison and with the highly equipped strike team aiding them, and now they were trapped at the far end of the warehouse.

The strike team ran down a staircase to regroup with Fox, who was ripping off the door to the last cage. Inside was a lonely pale white Labrador, wearing a damaged set of Death Bringer armour, the entire left sleeve was missing, some armour plates on the chest were missing and the trousers had their armour removed and were ripped nearly everywhere. His face was covered with dried blood stains and had a few cuts along his cheek.

Leah pushed past Fox and crouched down beside the Labrador.

"Renegade?" she asked. The Labrador nodded and tried to stand; Black-wing ran past Fox and helped him up.

"Let's get you home," he said, he activated his earpiece, "This is Black-wing, we have our man, let's get out of here."

"Most of the slaves have been transported away, including some of those from the warehouse, and we..."

Suddenly, there was a large explosion and the sounds of metal snapping echoed through the warehouse. A large part of the roof crumbled and collapsed on top of several Hunters and slaves as a large ball of fire burst through the roof. More explosions appeared at the far end, only smaller, the lights above shook and died out, some dropped to the floor and smashed, sending smashed glass over the floor. Rubble littered the floor near the gaping holes that had been left behind by the explosions. Several figures in black armour that covered their entire body stepped through the holes, weapons of unknown design within their hands and the image a white fox skull on the chest.

"DEATH BRINGERS!" roared someone.

No sooner had their name been said, the Death Bringers opened fire on anyone they could see. The already battered Hunters, returned fire against the fully prepared Death Bringers, but were being slaughtered at an alarming rate.

Several slaves charged at the Death Bringers, their guns blazing and their common sense flying out the window. The Death Bringers focused some their fire on the slaves. Their dying screams ringing throughout the warehouse, Fox started moving their direction but was stopped by Leah.

"Get out of my way," he growled through barred teeth, his glowing red.

"Let them go, we need to leave," ordered Leah, unfazed by his threatening demeanour. "They are gonna to destroy each other; it will make our escape much easier and weaken the Death Bringers without any unnecessary casualties."

Fox growled again, he knew she was right, but he wanted to make sure that his message to Nova was clear as day. Regrettably, he joined the Protectors and the remaining slaves leaving the warehouse.

Outside, the courtyard was nearly empty of all life, only a few Protectors remained with a total of three trucks and two jeeps. Fortunately, since the Death Bringers had attacked from the opposite direction, it was a simple task of getting onboard a vehicle and leaving for Head Quarters.

Fox looked back at the warehouse; large bright orange flames were slowly consuming the building and the screams of Hunters being slaughtered by the crusading Death Bringers could be heard from outside.

Fox clambered into one of the jeeps along with Black-wing, Leah, Renegade and two more Protectors. There weren't enough vehicles to comfortably transport everyone away; most people were stuffed into the back of the trucks.

-x-x-x-

A battered Fox, Leah, Renegade and Black-walked down the sewer tunnel underneath the factory to the underground compound. The sewage sloshed against the pathways they walked on, the smell threatened to knock them out where they stood. Soon, they arrived at the door to the chamber, Black-wing banged against it and it opened.

The crowd was much bigger, since the commander had ordered several hideouts to be abandoned to avoid unwanted losses against the gangs. The crowd split and began to move to the sides, for walking between them was the Commander. The commander stopped several feet away from the group, Black-wing and Leah saluted, while Fox just crossed his arms and Renegade just smirked.

"Still hiding your face behind a hood I see," he said in a cocky tone.

There were a few disapproving whispers amongst the crowd. Fox rolled his eyes; there was always one who had a problem with his ego.

"At least mine is still intact," replied the Commander, not sounding pleased.

"And that was below the belt," said a rather childish Renegade, "I thought you were supposed to treat family better than this, sis."

"Sis!" yelled a startled Fox and Black-wing together, the rest of the room broke out into more whispering.

"Knock it off!" yelled the Commander, before pulling the hood back to reveal a tan female Labrador with shining brown eyes and a voice changing collar wrapped around her neck with a small mic below her muzzle.

"Everyone say hello too, Becky," roared a smug Renegade. Becky just sent Death glares at her brother.

A few more whispers went around; Fox could have sworn one was "she's fit". But this didn't matter, all that mattered was Renegade revealing where that fucking son of a whore (wait, that's Panther), he meant the overweight shit bag was hiding.

"Ok, if everyone's done whispering, since that's the thing only you lot do, Renegade is going to still where Nova's hiding," he said.

"Yes Brother, why don't you tell us where he is, before you start cleaning the toilets." Said Becky with a smirk across her lips, which grew when Renegades disappeared.

**There you go, chapter 5. I know it wasn't worth the wait, but I couldn't stop my computer crashing.**

**Also, if you think the spy thing has left a plot hole, let me fill you in. Nova was the only Death Bringer who knew was supplying the weapons, no one else.**


	6. War for Kew: Part 3

Fox, Black-wing, Leah, Becky and a few other highly ranked members Fox had never seen before were gathered round the Commander's area, waiting to hear Renegade's information.

"Ok, you that our little raid against him has sent him into a frenzy, attacking everyone constantly," he said, "But he also seem to be scared of someone, the guy has become so paranoid that if a door was slammed close, he would shit himself."

A small smirk edged its way across Fox's lips, imaging if Nova would die just by looking at him when they meet.

"But if we're gonna take this Bastard out, we need to move fast. He's arranged for transport off world for the day after tomorrow, so that gives us over a day to get to him."

"Where is he hiding?" asked Becky, her voice saying she was already planning.

"The one place that he feels is secure, Nova-Corp Tower."

"Nova-Corp Tower? Bit of a give away, don't you think?" Said Fox, adding a small chuckle at the end. No one laughed.

"It might be a give away, but that's the point. If you were tasked with killing a company's CEO, you obviously go to the heart of the company. The security there is tighter that the hull of a star ship, perfect bait for an assassin with no hope of escaping with their life." Explained Renegade, understanding Fox wasn't aware of the situation.

"Then why is he using it now? If he wanted to bait the other gangs."

"A year ago, he made massive alterations to his tower, in case one gang became too powerful. That place is now a heavily armed fortress, and because of our raid, it has forced him to use it."

"So, we go there, kill his security and rip him apart. Job done."

"Are you FUCKING INSANE!" roared one of the other Lieutenants, a golden Lion. "If we attacked that placed we would be killed at the door."

"WE HAVE BEEN GIVEN A CHANCE TO RID LYLAT OF THIS BASTARD, AND YOU WANT TO LET HIM GO?" countered Fox in a louder tone, his green orbs became red. The Lion stepped back, but wasn't going to let himself be pushed around.

"You need to know your place, McCloud." Said the Lion, cracking his knuckles.

"You have no clue what you're in for." Replied a sneering Fox.

"ENOUGH!" Roared Becky, both Fox and the Lion backed down, "I am the one is in charge here and I give the orders, is that understood?"

"Yes Ma'am." Replied the pair, sending glares at the other.

Becky placed her hand on her chin; her eyes were locked in a cold hard stare. She was processing all the information her brother had revealed, thinking of as many ways possible that would allow them to achieve victory. If they won, Nova would be killed and the Death Bringers would crumble, but there were severe consequences, she risked losing the lives of a lot of good men and women, and that could lead to their downfall.

However, with the high tech equipment they had obtained, the new recruits they had got from the freed slaves, and with Fox's 'abilities', they did have a chance. Beside, they did owe Fox for his help, and what better payment than Nova's life.

"Fox is right; we can't afford to let him go." Finally speaking up, "With him gone, the Death Bringers would be leaderless and easy targets."

"But...but the Death Bringers are better equipped and outnumber us 10 to 1." The Lion put in; clearly shocked that commander would even consider such reckless plan. "There is no way we will be able to win and Nova will most likely escape."

"No, he, won't!" growled Fox, he was close to ending that miserable bastards life, and he was NOT going to let him escape.

"Calm down, both of you! Now, we have equipment that belonged to the Death Bringers, and our numbers had increased thanks to careful planning. If we plan this attack well, we will achieve victory."

"And what if we fail, we will lose all that we achieved!"

"It's a risk we will have to take. DON'T say another thing; I have made up my mind." Said Becky, in a firm voice, the Lion shut mouth his realising he wasn't going to win this argument.

"Now, inform all other garrisons, I want everyone to be ready and all equipment in operational condition. Tomorrow night, we attack Nova-Tower and the Death Bringers." Commanded Becky in a hard voice. "Dismissed!"

Everyone began to walk away, except for Renegade, who was stopped by his sister.

"Not you!" she said with an evil smirk across her lips, Renegade gulped, "You have to clean out the toilets, remember. Get to it!"

-x-x-x-

Nova stood in front of the large, horizontally curved window of his office on top of his tower. His office had glossy black walls and ceiling, with a plain black floor. Behind him was a black desk and swivel chair. Ahead was a step before a large glossy black conference table, on the left hand side of the exit.

He stared over the tops of all the other towers at the night sky, the few stars that could be seen faintly twinkled over the city. It had been three days and still no sign of Fox McCloud, whether this was good or bad, he didn't know. Fox was still out there, prowling the city, like a predator hunting its prey. However, there was some relief, he would be here for only one more day and his thugs had been eliminating all of his rivals.

Suddenly, he heard the whoosh of his door open behind him; panic took over as he drew his blaster pistol and spun round to aim at this possible threat. His lungs tensed as he held his breath. Fortunately, it was only his Lieutenant, Reaper. He gently lowered his pistol, as an unfazed Reaper casually walked up to him.

"You need to calm down, Boss" replied Reaper in a relaxed tone, "We've eliminated nearly every prick on this planet, and..."

"'Nearly' isn't good enough," roared Nova, "If one little shit survives, then they can still be a threat. I want you to root out every hide out on this planet. I don't care how you do it, work daylight hours, capture important members, level the districts if you have to, just find every son of a bitch scumbag and remind them who control's this planet."

A menacing grin stretched across Reaper's face. "I'll get started."

He turned around to leave.

"Wait!" boomed Nova, "What about the pirate fleets?"

"Their bringing loads of good shit," said a proud Reaper, "And Boss, one of those artifacts your contact wants, has been found."

Nova's eyes nearly popped out.

"Tell whoever has found it to return to Kew now!"

"Ok boss, but why does your contact want some ancient crap?"

"It doesn't concern you."

-x-x-x-

Fox was resting on an old dirty mattress in the Protectors Head Quarters. He thought back to last night, how ripped his way through the unknown number Hunters at the slave compound. It reminded him of the facility where he had been left to rot for a year, where he was beaten and tortured, and most importantly, where he had become this abomination he was now.

He clenched his fist in anger, he was gonna make sure every last one of those bastards suffered. They had destroyed his life, and he was going to destroy them.

But...something lingered at the back of Foxes mind, what would he do if he did destroy Ghost Company? He thought of his friends, it hurt to think about each of them, but the pain was unbearable when he thought of Krystal. How could he tell her that he had been alive for over a year, and that he was a monster. She wouldn't understand.

"How can you love a monster?" he sighed sadly to himself.

He rubbed his eyes and stood up; he needed some fresh air to clear his head.

-x-x-x-

Night finally came, after what seemed like a lifetime for Fox, the entire HQ was busy as everyone was making vital last minute checks to their gear. It had been like this all day, with people trying to get whatever equipment they had into a good enough condition. The same could be said for all the other units stationed around the planet.

There had been a small stroke of luck; the Death Bringers had spent nearly the entire day attacking the other gangs. The Protectors had been fortunate to not be caught in these attacks, and even greater still, since the Death Bringers had made many successful attacks; they had gained more turf which in turn had stretched them out more than they realised.

Becky had called a meeting with her available 'lieutenants' and Fox to discuss the battle plan. Since the Death Bringers were already spread too far out, the plan was for the other garrisons to focus on attacking and crippling them, while the main force focused on Nova-Tower. Fox was tasked with getting to Nova, while the others were responsible for eliminating any and all Death Bringers.

"So, are we all clear?" asked Becky.

Everyone nodded, knowing the risks that if they lost; everything they had worked for would have been for nothing.

"Good, now get suited up," she barked, "we're leaving in 15 minutes."

-x-x-x-

Nova sat in his office in Nova-Corp Tower, constantly taping against his desk. His eyes were blood shot from the lack of sleep, fearing that Fox would kill him if he slept. Fortunately, he wouldn't have to put up with this for long, tomorrow morning; Captain Vander would be coming to collect him and the artifact he had recovered.

"Not long to wait know," he whispered to himself, "Not long till I leave this planet and McCloud behind."

Though McCloud was still out there, his thugs had been very successful in dealing with rival gangs, the Hunters had been destroyed and the Crimson Skulls were on the run. Other gangs were also falling to his 'army'; the number of dead rivals was constantly rising. However, the vigilante outfit, the Protectors, had not been seen for a while. He thought Fox would have aided them, but with no sign of him, they must have already been destroyed.

Eventually, Nova stopped tapping his desk and pressed a button on the intercom.

"Reaper! Have all units in the business district return to my tower, NOW!"

"But, boss..."

"Do as I say!"

Even though it was his last night here, there was still a chance Fox will show up and attack, and he wasn't about to gamble on the odds of that happening.

-x-x-x-

Fox stood in the now bustling yard of the factory. He watched as nearly everyone fussed around the equipment and their transport. They were going to be using seven trucks and nine armed jeeps for the assault, but first had to meet up with two other hideouts that had been selected to join in on the assault.

A majority of the Protectors had been given the older combat armour or scavenged makeshift armour, while a third had been given the well-engineered combat armour worn by Ghost Company. Weaponry however, wasn't as big an issue, the collection of weapons they had stolen, though small compared to how much there was available, was able to go a long way. While there were still a large number of people using standard weapons, the advanced weapons of Ghost Company more than made up this set back.

"Hey Fox", called a voice, Fox spun round to see Black-wing walking his direction.

"What is it?" asked Fox.

"Come on, we're leaving in a minute."

Fox watched Black-wing walk over to the truck nearest the gate, before turning his attention to other matters. He tighten his fists, finally, he was going to make Nova pay for what he had done.

-x-x-x-

Fox sat in the front passenger seat beside Black-wing, who was driving the truck through Kew's (only) business district. Unlike most areas on Kew, which were abandoned ruins, the business district was a far better place; the towering skyscrapers were made from metal which reflected the silvery light from the lamp posts that illuminated the roads.

The strike force had meet up with the two outposts and now had fifteen trucks and eighteen armed jeeps. The jeeps had their armaments covered to reduce the chances of an attack by the Death Bringers. Oddly, despite being in the centre of the Death Bringers territory, they had yet to encounter a single Death Bringer.

"No sign of any Death Bringer's," Black-wing pointed out.

"Oh, really? I didn't notice," replied a sarcastic Fox.

Before Black-wing could say anything in response, the Commander's voice could be heard from the communicator.

"We're nearing the target location, go ahead and clear the way for the rest of us."

"Got it."

They drove on while the rest of the convoy waited for them. Ahead of them was a large tower that looked that was roughly forty to fifty stories high. The building was rounded at the front and back, neon white lights wrote out Nova-Corp vertically along the front of the tower. There was also a large plaza that stood before the main entrance.

"Knock-knock, you bastards," said Black-wing.

He pressed his foot down on the accelerator and drove the truck down a ramp that went underneath the plaza. The truck smashed through the large security door that protected the parking garage, parked inside were a total of seven Death Bringer trucks surrounded by crates of different sizes and at least ten shocked Death Bringers.

Fox kicked the truck door off and stepped out, XK-47 in hand. Without bothering to aim, he pulled the trigger, sending a barrage of red lasers flying towards Nova's thugs. Two were caught in the lightshow as the rest took cover. With their enemies pinned, fourteen protectors spilled out from the back of the truck and joined Fox. Black-wing disembarked from the truck and took cover behind a crate and readied his rifle.

The Death Bringers returned fire in an attempt eliminate their attackers, but they were outmanned and outgunned. Fox stopped firing and charged directly at them, ignoring the pain from the shots that made contact with his body. With his hands in their claw form, he ripped apart the nearest thug's rib cage completely out through the layers of armour. Panic set into the remaining Death Bringers, a few froze with fear, making them easy targets for the Protectors.

Soon, all but three Death Bringers had been slaughtered by Fox and the Protectors. The remaining thugs fled deeper into the tower. With the garage secure, it was time to press the attack. Black-wing activated his com-system to inform the Commander.

"Commander, this is Black-wing, the garage is secure."

"Excellent, we'll begin our attack and back you up," came the Commander's reply, "Have one of your men intercept their communications, Nova's no doubt heard our entrance and will be looking for way out."

-x-x-x-

The distant sound of gun fire alerted the terrified swine, hiding in his office high up in his tower, his fortress. Nova's reached out for the intercom on his desk with a trembling finger.

"W...WHA...T'S GO...ING ON?" yelled the panic stricken pig.

He heard a reply coming from one of his thugs, laser fire roaring in the back ground.

"One gang attacked the garage... _(gunfire) _... not too many... _(gunfire) _... should be able to...OH MY FUCKING GOD...KILL THAT FREAK KILL...AHH!"

The voice at other end of the com fell silent, only the sound of lasers could be heard. Nova continued to quiver; Fox McCloud had finally come for him. It was too much for him to take, he activated the intercom.

"Reaper! Contact my shuttle, tell it to collect me IMMEDIATELY!" roared Nova.

"On it boss."

-x-x-x-

In the garage, reinforcements were pouring in from the Protectors trucks. A black bat had attached a communicator to the intercom and was shifting through the communications, looking for Nova.

The communicator blurted out the different messages it picked up, "Enemies in gar...Target spot...Vehicles out front...Contact my shuttle, tell it to collect me IMMEDIATELY!..."

The bat's eyes nearly popped out at the last message.

"Sir," the bat calling Black-wing over, "I've intercepted a message from Nova."

"What is it?"

-x-x-x-

Fox was fighting the Death Bringers in the main entrance alongside the Protectors. The main entrance consisted of a white floor with metallic grey walls. Bright white lights decorated the interior, illuminating everywhere. Large glass doors lead out to the plaza, occupied by the Protectors jeeps, and were surrounded by large shattered windows; in front of the doors was a large reception desk with Nova-Corp written on the front. The edge of each floor ran up from the ground up, with each floor in the shape of an arc. Behind were a set of steps where stood a large twenty story high gold statue of a thin, muscular, fine looking swine. In Fox's eyes, it was the biggest exaggeration of someone ever.

The protectors had stormed the entrance from the right, and now were receiving a beating from the Death Bringers firing from the higher floors. Fox charged across the ground floor, ripping and tearing as any Death Bringers that got in the way, leaving piles of severed limbs and organs in his wake. But no matter how many he killed, there was always more to replace. As the fire from the top became more powerful, Fox returned to the corridor the Protectors captured.

"Fox, come in," it was Black-wing on his communicator.

"What is it?" asked Fox, failing to hide the annoyance in his voice.

"Nova's planning to escape; you have to get to that bastard fast. We'll try to deal with the shuttle, you just get to him."

"How?"

There was silence for a few minutes before he heard anything, this time it was Renegade.

"Fox, listen up," began Renegade, "Behind Nova's exaggerated statue, are elevators that will go straight to the top, where his office is."

Fox walked out to the edge of the corridor and looked behind the statue; sure enough he could see part of an elevator hiding behind the statue. A near miss from a sniper gave Fox the signal to run for it, he jumped up the steps and hopped over the base of the statue, his claws leaving deep scratches in the statues left leg.

Fox smashed the glass elevator doors to pieces and pressed button 45 the highest there was. The elevator jolted before slowly climbing the building, Fox looked down at the battle that raged below. Suddenly, everything went dark and the elevator stopped with a jolt, half way below the forth floor. Fox growled, the power had been cut and he was only on the forth flour. He fired a single shot at the glass door, ignoring the shards of glass scatter across his body, and clambered out through the passage.

"There's one!" yelled a voice.

Fox looked around to see that he was surrounded by Death Bringers who had been taking shots at the Protectors. Many had already seen Fox and aimed their weapons at him. Fox leaped towards the nearest brute, his foot making contact with the thugs face, sending him backwards and falling over the railing. Fox ignored the screams and unleashed his claws against the Death Bringers.

Blood splattered as Fox ripped apart the Death bringers one by one, limbs flew and organs littered the floor. Lasers pelted Fox through his armour, which absorbed much of the damage. One Death Bringer fired a well-aimed shot that struck the left side of Fox's face. Fox felt something burning in his gut, without thinking, he charged at the Death Bringer and stabbed him in the abdomen and tore his claw up, separating his head for his body. The other Death Bringers froze with horror. They stared in horror at the severed head of their comrade, impaled on the claw like fingers of Fox McCloud, blood dripping from his destroyed mouth.

Fox stared at them with blood red eyes; rage was flowing through his body with each beat of his heart. Suddenly, he grabbed the nearest Death Bringer by the neck and chucked him over the railing. Half of the Death Bringers opened fire on Fox, not wanted to be his next victim, while the others vanished down a corridor.

Fox looked down at the ground floor; all of the Death Bringers had fled and the Protectors were slowly taking the floors. A team of Protectors, lead by Black-wing arrived on his floor and joined up with him.

"Guess you're taking the long way," said Black-wing with a hint of humour, Fox just growled in response.

"I know it's a shit task, but we need to get rid of Nova, and you'll get payback," exclaimed Black-wing, knowing it was what Fox wanted the most. "Stairwell's back there, take these guys with you."

Fox and twenty Protectors made their way to the stairwell and started to climb.

-x-x-x-

Nova was anxiously pacing in his office; he could have sworn that the sound of gunfire had gotten louder. Even with ten well armed and well experienced body-guards, there was no safety, his guards could deal with any gang member without difficulty, but...McCloud was different, he was a trained mercenary, and now a blood thirsty mutant, capable of laying waste to an entire military base in a fit of rage.

The door to his office whooshed open; his guards quickly entered their battle positions, only to stand down upon realising it was Reaper.

"Boss, your shuttle is nearly here," said Reaper, his voice tense, "We better get you moving."

"Then FUCKING MOVE IT!" yelled Nova, finally, he would be able to leave this place and McCloud behind.

Reaper was first out, followed by four guards, then Nova, with the remaining six bringing up the rear.

-x-x-x-

Outside, Leah was commanding the jeeps out in the plaza, engaging on the Death Bringers that were firing from the towers windows. Eliminating and distracting as many Death Bringers as possible, making it easier for the Protectors to take the floors. However, the higher the Protectors made it, the less the heavy support was needed.

Leah sat in the passenger seat of the centre most jeep in the plaza, analysing the building for any incoming fire. Beside her was a dark green newt as the driver, and it the back was a pale green turtle as the gunner and a golden lupine with a radio.

"Ma'am," called a voice, Leah spun her head round to see the golden lupine in the back seat.

"What is it?" she asked sternly, hoping that he wasn't wasting her time.

"Commander says they've intercepted a transmission from the tower and a shuttle. It's on its way to get Nova to safety and is nearly here; she wants us to get rid of it before it picks up Nova."

Leah instantly jumped out of the jeep and made her way to the back. She opened the storage compartment and pulled out a rocket launcher that had been stolen from the Death Bringers, and the only rocket inside. The rocket launcher was a long tube with a grip and trigger in the middle, with a screen and handle sticking out of the left.

"Ok, only one shot and have to eliminate a vital target, so no pressure," she said sarcastically, chuckling at her little joke.

Everyone scanned the dark skies, looking for any sign of that shuttle. With the sky only having a few faint stars shining, the sound of gunfire and the fact that the tower was 45 stories tall, it would not be an easy task. Fortunately, the screen on Leah's rocket launcher was able to give a slightly clearer view.

After about a minute or two, a bright light could be seen slowly moving towards the tower. Leah focused her launcher in its direction and looked at the screen. She could see the faint outline of a shuttle; it was three times the size of a fighter, with a pointed bridge, that was attached to the body by a rounded neck, two wings were on each side of the body, giving the wings an X formation.

"That's got to be it," said Leah as she activated the launchers lock on system.

Leah steadied her breathing; she only had one shot and needed to make it count. She pulled the trigger, and the rocket shot off like a flare, leaving an orange trail in its wake.

-x-x-x-

The door to the roof burst open, allowing Nova and his body guards to pour onto it. The roof it self was flat with a few air vents dotted around and a spire that stuck up from the middle.

Approaching the roof was Nova's shuttle, the pilots taking care to land without killing their boss. The shuttle continued to slowly creep forward. Nova watched with anticipation and a huge grin plastered on his face, safety was only moments away.

Suddenly, the rear of the shuttle exploded in bright orange inferno. The blast sent it spinning as it crashed into the roof, two guards were crushed by the shuttle as it made contact with the roof. Nova and the rest of his goons ran back towards the entrance, the burning wreck jumped and rolled in their direction. Another thug was caught and flattened by it.

Soon, the wreck stopped rolling as the last of goons fled. Nova was now in a complete state of panic, his only hope of escape was destroyed and now he was trapped. He and his guards retreated back to his office and waited. All he could do now was hope, hope that McCloud would never make it to him, that someone would be skilled or lucky enough to put an end to him, or if he did make it, McCloud would be too tired and too sloppy to defeat his guards.

"Reaper!" yelled Nova, "Contact all units, tell them to report to the Tower, NOW!"

-x-x-x-

Fox gunned down another Death Bringer on the stairwell. The team of Protectors had fought their way to the 39th floor, it had had been an exhausting exercise, and the counter attacks by the Death Bringers made it more challenging. But they had been able to push their way up this far and now were so close.

Death Bringers were firing from the corridor that leads to the 39th floor and the floor above in the stairwell. Fox and most of the Protectors were trying to hold them off.

"You three! Come with me!" commanded Fox, as he pointed at three Protectors, a black and white cat, a dark brown dog and a red parrot.

Fox lead them up the staircase to the next floor, finishing off the two Death Bringers that stood there. The bird and cat dashed past Fox to deal with any enemy reinforcements, followed quickly by the dog. Suddenly, there was a bright flash and a loud bang, sending Fox back down the stair well to the 39th floor.

Slowly Fox tried pulled up, his vision was blurry and his ears were ringing. He felt someone grab him and help him stand. His vision began to clear and his hearing began to return, every inch of his body was in pain. He could see blood dripping from his body, forming pools on the ground below. The pain began to numb, most likely due to his increased healing rate.

Soon, he had enough strength to stand by himself. He looked up the stairwell; the top had collapsed, blocking their progress. He stared at the arm of the cat that was sticking out from underneath the rubble. It had been a trap, no wonder there had been only two Death Bringers defending it.

The bird had blood splattered all over his body and shrapnel was imbedded in his body. The dog was also covered in blood and though alive, was in a critical condition. Angry, Fox activated his com, hoping there was another way to reach Nova.

"Renegade, come in," hissed Fox.

"Fox, good news, Leah shot down Nova's shuttle," Renegades reply, failing to pick up the anger in Fox's voice.

"That's not gonna help," yelled Fox, "the bastards just blew up part of the stairwell, is there another way?"

"There is," replied Renegade, "but it's on the other side, our in for a rough fight."

Fox didn't reply, he picked up his gun and charged down the corridor, shoot at any Death Bringers in sight or stabbing them with claws at close range. He led the charge along the floors balcony, lasers fired from all directions, from the floors below and the floors above. The Protectors fought till they were half way across the balcony. Enemy fire coming in from all directions, but the Protectors continued to fight against the odds.

Suddenly, there was an explosion on the balcony, followed by several more, destroying the barrier at the edge. The Protectors lost their footing and fell to the floor. Fox looked around; above he could see Death Bringers with rocket launchers, all of them were firing at their location. Fox noticed that the balcony part they were on was beginning to break; they were intending to destroy the balcony.

"MOVE!" roared Fox as he staggered to his feet, all of the Protectors scrambled to their feet and began to run back the way they came.

Unfortunately, the Death Bringers fired their rockets, most of them made contact with the balcony. The Protectors fell to their feet as the section began to bend downwards, Fox along with most of the Protectors began sliding off the edge of the balcony. Fox tried to use his claws to tear into the floor to hold him in place. However, the claws were tearing through the metal until he slid off.

Fox along with most of the Protectors had fallen off the edge, falling towards the ground. The few Protectors that hadn't fallen retreated back to the stairwell, most of them were gunned down By the Death Bringers they had failed to kill.

Fox reached out to try wedge his claws into the wall, the screams of the other falling Protectors could only be faintly heard through the sound of lasers and bullets. Fox's claws failed to get stuck in the sides of the floors as they tore through, leaving large claw marks as he slid down. Fox grit his teeth and tried to push his claws deeper into the metal, only to have a worse effect.

Fox yelled out in pain, his right hand felt like it was being ripped apart and put back together, a feeling he got when his hands were changing into their claw form, and the other way round. Sparks were now flying from his claws, as if the metal walls were sharpening them.

Fox tore through another floor, and suddenly, stopped. Fox looked up to see that he was caught on the barrier of a different floor, and was now dangling over the edge. He looked down below, to see the floor, now littered with the bodies of fallen Death Bringers and Protectors. He turned around to see the back of Nova's statue, Fox cursed under his breath, he was so close and now he was back where he started.

Fox hauled himself over the barrier and looked at his hands, shocked by what he saw. His left claw was nearly unchanged, only looking a bit sharper, while his right hand had been completely altered. The black fur of his claws remained just below his wrist, but wasn't anywhere after, revealing his flesh. It was twisted and looked metallic grey in colour. But the most shocking thing was that his claw was gone, instead, at the end of his twisted flesh, was a hook. The hook was had the thickness of one of Fox's fingers and curved into a loop with a sharp point at the end.

"There's one left!" roared a voice.

Fox spun his head right to see a team of seven Death Bringers, standing over the corpses of several Protectors. Some of the dead Protectors looked young, like they were just in their late teens, early twenties. The sight twisted Fox's insides; causing a spark to go off inside him, igniting his rage, his hatred and his blood lust.

The Death Bringer team took aim at him and prepared to fire. Suddenly, Fox let out a mighty roar, a deep roar that was inhumane, like a giant terrifying monster from a nightmare. It echoed through out the building, drowning out the sounds of the battle. When Fox finished, an uneasy silence lingered, leaving everyone to wonder.

The team of Death Bringers stared at Fox, fear and horror written all over their faces. The glowing dark red eyes alone terrified them, what was this thing they had confronted?

It became too much for one Death Bringer, he yelled and fired a barrage of lasers in Fox's direction, restoring the sound gunfire to the battle. Fox charged through the line of fire, ignoring the pain that erupted from the laser shots. When in striking distance, Fox swung his hook into the left side of the Death Bringers head. The end hooks head was buried in the skull, with a strong tug, Fox ripped away the forehead of the Death Bringer, causing parts of the brain to spill out of the hole.

The other six were now terrified; two fled the scene while the others fired in a blind panic, hoping to over power Fox. However, Fox dashed to another Death Bringer, stabbed him in the abdominal, and ripped away his chest, exposing the broken rib cage and spilling the organs everywhere.

Fox then swung his hook into the jaw of another, and ripped if off in one pull. Blood spewed everywhere from the victims mouth, like a crimson fountain. The victim screamed in pain, before Fox stabbed him in the neck, causing more blood to squirt out and on to Fox.

The two remaining Death Bringers had finally cracked and tried to flee. Fox hooked onto one and sent him flying over the barrier, listening to his screams as he fell. As for the last one, Fox jumped on to his back and ripped his spine out through the back of his neck.

With the team dead or hiding, Fox stared at the back of Nova's statue, ignoring the pain of his hook and claw turning into their normal forms. The hook spilt into the three centre fingers with smallest and his thumb grew from the twisted flesh around his wrist.

Suddenly, as if it was instinct Fox launched himself onto the statues back and began to climb. When he reached the head, he launched himself backwards, spun around in mid-air, through the constant firing of lasers and bullets from both sides towards another balcony.

Fox then launched to the left, to a balcony several floors above, where there were some Death Bringers. Grabbing one, Fox launched himself back into the centre, a few floors higher than before and slammed the Death Bringer into the balcony.

Fox continued to jump from balcony to balcony, skipping several floors with each jump, until finally; he was at the 45th floor, guarded by twenty Death Bringers. Switching to his claws, Fox began to brutally eviscerate every single one, from slicing off limbs to ripping out internal body parts.

With the last one now drowning in his own blood, Fox walked down the centre corridor, that lead to the C.E.O's office, where no doubt Nova would be hiding.

"Finally," said Fox in a deep gruff voice, "tonight, you die."

-x-x-x-

Outside, in the plaza, Leah had ordered some of the heavy equipment to be taken to the entrance. The Death Bringers in the tower had been defeated and now were hiding from Protector Search teams. The Commander wanted the entrance to be secure and had the garage sealed off, in case any reinforcements were on their way to kill them and save their boss.

As another mounted Gatling laser was being set up, Leah could here the sound of approaching engines. Other Protectors began to stop what they were doing and readied their weapons. Suddenly, driving down the front of the plaza was a large number of armoured jeeps and trucks, all of them bearing the markings of the Death Bringers.

"DEATH BRINGERS!" screamed Leah, "OPEN FIRE!"

All of the gunners let lose a barrage of lasers from their guns mounted onto of the jeeps, while the infantry dashed to cover before firing. The Death Bringers responded with their own mounted guns and deployed every gang member they had within the trucks. The sheer number of Death Bringers terrified the Protectors; Leah watched as her men killed a Death Bringer, only to be replaced by another, while when they killed one of her men, they couldn't be replaced.

"Fall Back!" commanded Leah, realising they would have a better chance if they had better protection.

All of the Protectors began to fall back towards the tower's entrance, while the gunners and those secure by the entrance lay down suppressive fire to cover their allies.

-x-x-x-

Nova stood behind his desk; he had never been this terrified in his life. First, he heard a monstrous roar, and only seconds ago he heard gunfire just on the other side of his office door, before all was quiet again. His guards and lieutenant and taken up defensive stances around the office, with their guns aimed at the door.

Suddenly, a loud bang echoed through out the office as a large dent appeared in the office door. Nova drew his own pistol and aimed it at the door; the other guards focused their aim. Suddenly, the door began to push apart, the ends being pushed into the holders revealing the one person Nova never wanted to see...Fox McCloud.

"SHOOT HIM!" roared Nova, fear gripping his mind.

Fox slit the nearest guard's throat with his claws, and apart the head of another. The remaining guards and Nova began firing at Fox. Lasers flashed and zipped towards Fox, piercing his armour and burning his flesh. Fox growled and continued his rampage against his targets feeble body guard, until only Reaper and Nova himself were still alive.

Reaper fired against Fox, not wanting to end up like all those who had already to Fox's vicious blood thirst. Fox just stood there taking in every shot, waiting for the inevitable to happen, his claws returned to their normal form.

Soon, Reapers gun stopped spewing out lasers and panic filled his eyes, his guns energy cell had burnt up its remaining power, leaving him defenceless. Quickly, Reaper began searching for another cell. Fox saw his moment, he sprinted directly at Reaper and punched him in the chest. His arm shot through the panther's chest, in his hand was his heart. Blood covered his arm and poured from the hole. Fox swiftly removed his arm, allowing the body to drop to the floor. He shifted his gaze to Nova, fear, terror and horror plastered his face. Slowly, he stepped over Reapers corpse and walked towards Nova, as he backed away from his enemy.

Nova's back was pressed against the window of his office, his pistol shaking in his hand as he tried to aim it at the vulpine. Fox grinned evilly at Nova's attempt at bravery, his red eyes sending signals that his life was about to come to an end. If Nova thought that he was going to get a quick death, he thought wrong. Fox walked around his desk, Nova quivered with each stride he took.

Nova pulled the trigger on his pistol, the laser missing the vulpine completely. He fired again and missed. Fox only a couple of feet away, and getting closer. He was about to fire when suddenly, Fox held the swine's right wrist in a death grip, crushing the bones inside. Nova shut his eyes and wailed in pain as he dropped his pistol.

Fox closed his right hand into a fist and punched the crime lord in the face, striking Nova's left eye. The shear strength of the fist as it made contact sent the swine to the ground, his left eye swollen and bruised. The vulpine let go of Nova's wrist, grabbed him by the neck and hauled him up, only to punch him in the right side of his face and send the swine down again. Fox continued to drag Nova up and punch him down again, each fist like a hammer to the face. Fox hauled Nova up, his eyes were heavily bruised and swollen, and blood was trickling from his nose and mouth. The vulpine prepared for another strike.

"W...wait," spluttered Nova, "No more."

Fox stared at the infamous crime lord, begging for mercy, how good it felt.

"I'll (cough) I'll tell you...everything about...Ghost Company," he pleaded, "Just don't...kill me."

Fox was admittedly intrigued by such a proposal.

"Alright then," began Fox in a deep threatening voice, "What is Ghost Company? And what did you do to me?"

"Ghost Company is a secret military unit in the Venomian Military...it is lead by the founders, each one responsible for a (cough) different field."

"Who are the Founders?" asked Fox, unknowingly loosening his grip around the swine's throat, something Nova noticed, and slowly moved his hand behind his back.

"We lead Ghost Company in hopes to carry out the plan, something in which you were apart."

"That doesn't exactly answer my question, where are your other three Founders?"

"Three? Ghost Company is far too complex to be lead by four," uttered a surprise Nova, "Ten. Ten Founders lead Ghost Company to complete its plan."

"Then your gonna tell me who the other Founders are? What is this plan is of yours? And how I fit into it?" Yelled Fox, his grip loosen completely.

"I could, but it wouldn't help you," he said smugly, Fox was confused, "You won't be alive long enough."

And with that, Nova kicked the vulpine and drew a taser gun from behind his back. The swine fired a single bolt of electricity at the vulpine. Fox roared in pain as the electricity fired through his system, it felt like being back at the facility, during those horrible experiments.

Fox's insides twisted again as he fought the pain of the taser. He force his way towards Nova knocked it out of his hands, pouring fear into the swine for his failed attempt to kill Fox McCloud.

"Please don't hurt me, PLEASE DON'T H..." he begged, before Fox kicked him.

Nova went flying through the window, the glass shattered and screams echoed as he fell to his Death. Fox just stood directly in front of the smashed window, he could see laser's and flames from the plaza as the Protectors fought against the Death Bringer reinforcements.

"This is the Commander," came a message from his com-link, "All Protectors in Nova-Corp Tower return to the main reception to reinforce defences against the Death Bringer assault."

Fox switched off his com, and looked out the shattered window. He was going to aid his allies, and he would get there fast. As if his body had a mind of its own, Fox leaped out the window.

-x-x-x-

At the main entrance to the tower, the Protectors were struggling to defend against the Death Bringers assault. They had taken the tower, but were now trapped. The Death Bringers were determined to rescue their boss and take back their main hide out.

The Commander, joined by Black-wing, Renegade and Leah fired at any Death Bringer in their sights, but no matter how many they killed, there was always more.

Suddenly, they noticed something fall into the middle of the plaza. At a quick glance, it looked like the body of a pig before in splattered into the ground. Followed, by something else, however when this made contact, there was a thunderous roar from its impact with the ground. Smoke covered the area and there were dying screams of Death Bringers, ringing in the air. Every one stopped firing to see what had happened.

The smoke began to slowly fade away, to reveal a shocking sight. In the middle of the plaza was an enormous crater, so deep that it looked like it had collapsed into the garage. And crouched in the middle, surrounded by dead bodies from both sides, was an orange vulpine.

Fox slowly stood up, much to the amazement to the Protectors, and the horror of the Death Bringers. He suddenly leaded from the crater and began slicing and ripping apart the Death Bringers, taking in whatever fire power they sent his way, it would not stop him. The Protectors in the tower broke and joined him in the plaza, as he led the charge against the Death Bringers.

Limbs were sent flying, vehicles were destroyed and bodies dropped as Fox and the Protectors fought against the once great Death Bringer Crime Syndicate. The remaining Death Bringers began to flee, either by vehicle or by foot, anyway to get away from their destroyers.

Soon, all the Death Bringers had fled or had been destroyed. Fox steadied his breathing and calmed himself down, tonight; he had done what he had come to Kew to do. Nova was dead and now he was a step closer to getting his revenge against Ghost Company.

**There's chapter 6. Nova's dead, nine more founders for Fox to find and kill. That is if he can control his rage.**

**Well, say what you think, and whether I should continue or if you feel like it's getting repetitive, let me know. See ya.**


	7. Stowaway

The skies above Kew were bright orange as the morning slowly rolled in, and a large crowd had gathered around the still burning plaza on Nova-Corp Tower. Everyone was staring at the large number of heavily armed figures, searching through the burning vehicles and the dead bodies for pieces of equipment, ignoring the crowds. Some returned to the tower with equipment or a dead body in their arms, while other's tossed away over dead bodies into the enormous crater in the middle of the plaza.

In the eyes of the crowd, it looked like another turf battle in the gang war had that laid waste to much of Kew. However, there was also a sense of confusion, such as why this gang had chosen to ignore them than threaten them.

Fox stood in Nova's office, in front of the smashed window from where he sent Nova falling to his death. He scanned the tops of the skyscrapers, his mind lost in thought. Nova was dead, but there were nine more founders out there, and Fox didn't have a clue for were to look. Perhaps he should beat the information out him, and then killed him.

Behind him were a few Protectors in the office discussing about things that didn't interest him. One was busy trying to hack Nova's computer for information about his criminal activities. While a few others were talking to Becky, discussing the status of other units on the planet and the state of the gangs.

Becky dismissed her men and made her way towards Fox, she wanted to thank him for his actions, since all of this would have been impossible if it wasn't for him. Before she could get any closer, Fox spun round to greet her, as if sensing her approach.

"Thank you, Fox," she said with a smile.

"You're welcome," Fox replied.

"You've done a great thing Fox, things will change for the better."

"What will you do now?" asked Fox, curious as to how they would deal with the gangs.

"We lost a lot guys in this operation," her voice was full of sorrow, "and since we're this planets only form of law enforcement, I'll reorganise us into something proper, the Kew Security Force."

"Good luck with that," replied Fox.

"And what will you do?"

Fox didn't reply immediately, in all honesty he didn't have a clue.

"Finish off what I started," he replied, his voice struggling to hide the twisted hatred he felt.

"Well," began Becky, "If there's anything you need, we'll help."

"There is one thing," said Fox, turning to face her, his face serious, "No-one else must know I was involved in your war. If the Cornerian military come by and start asking questions, believe me they will, tell them that you won through careful planning, the skills of your guys, or you were just plain lucky. Anything, but my intervention is not to reach their ears."

"That is a big request, I mean the things you've done are difficult to cover up, but since it was through you we won. I think we'll be able to pull that off."

"Thanks," replied Fox, and gave her a small smile. Becky just returned the smile and walked away.

Fox looked around the office; he stopped when he saw the bat, hacking into the computer. He had been so stupid, if Nova had any information about Ghost Company, where better to look than his own personal computer.

The Bat smiled to himself, all of Nova's plans, sites and information was at his fingertips. Fox could clearly see the enormous grin, and moved towards the bat.

"What did you find?" asked Fox.

"Where do I begin?" said the bat, struggling to contain his excitement, "Everything's here! Piracy, drug smuggling, hideouts, the lot!"

Fox just rolled his eyes; he had no interest in that shit. He scanned the files on the screen, looking for anything that stood out, but nothing stood out. Suddenly, he caught the name of one file that was as clear as day. The file was named 'Ghost'.

"Select that file," ordered Fox, pointing at the screen, the bat complied and selected it.

A list of documents and folders appeared on the screen, Fox began to scan their titles, 'Status Reports', 'Progress Reports', each one drove Fox to study its contents. As he scanned down the list, one caught his eye, 'Evacuation'. The bat selected it to reveal the contents of the document.

_Nova,_

_General Stone informed me of your predicament; count yourself lucky that bastard McCloud hasn't killed you yet. Do yourself a favour and keep your head down. If McCloud can kill an entire unit of elite Ghost Company soldiers, your thugs are not gonna last a second._

_Soon, 'command' will send me on patrol for 'rebel forces', and then I will come to collect and take you back to GHQ. Make sure you have that artifact ready for transport, and nothing happens to it. I don't know how many or if any of those fucking things are still out there._

_Head to NC Docking Bay 002, I'll be there to collect you and the artifact on the day. Don't fuck this up, me and rest of the Founder's are counting you._

_Captain Nova._

A small smile crept across Fox's lips, now he had a new trail to follow and information about Ghost Company.

"Download all of this," commanded Fox. The Bat plugged a small rectangular disc into the system and downloaded everything within the ghost file.

Fox stowed away the disc in his trouser pocket, and left the office. It was time to hunt his next target.

-x-x-x-

In a dark black metal corridor, illuminated by several white lights, was a black haired ape of average size. Wearing a white officer's uniform and cap with black trim, and black boots that echoed through the corridor with each step.

At the end of the corridor, was a large metal door that opened for him. The door revealed the bridge of a warship, two rows of computers curved around the bridge with an isle in the middle, in front of a large chair. Crew members were sitting in front of the consoles or were walking around, while two soldiers stood by the door.

"CAPTAIN ON DECK!" someone yelled as the ape walked into the bridge, everyone froze and stood to attention.

"As you were," replied the Captain, as he sat down in his chair, a small keyboard and computer screen appeared from behind the chair on his right side.

"Captain, we are nearing Kew," said a crewmember, Captain Vander looked out the observation window. Ahead, was the grey planet with an infamous reputation.

"Maintain our position in orbit," commanded Vander, "ready a shuttle and a security team to head down and collect Nova."

"Yes, captain."

-x-x-x-

Fox was running through the filthy alleyways of Kew trying to avoid the eyes of the public, the scars that once made him unrecognisable had healed, even after the beaten he had taken last night, he was still recognisable if someone looked close enough.

He stopped at the end of the alley, ahead was the docking bay Fox was looking for. The stacks of containers, the large warehouses and towering cranes clearly visible. After checking the street, Fox sprinted towards the fenced perimeter and leaped over it as if it was nothing.

Voices began floating towards Fox's ears, his ears perked, who was here? Fox slowly followed the sound of the voices through the maze of containers and buildings, the voices got louder with each step.

Fox poked his head around the corner of a container to see roughly thirty or more Death Bringers. Their armour was scorched, bashed, dented, cracked and broken. Blood and dirt covered their face, and their high tech weapons had been heavily weathered.

It wasn't difficult to figure out what had happened they were some of the survivors from the Protectors Crackdown on the gangs of Kew. These guys most likely fled when the fighting got intense, and regrouped here, either to flee or strike back.

The survivors were locked in a heated argument, failing to notice the one person that did the most to bring about their downfall. But before Fox could strike, a brown rat stood on top of a large reflective, metal crate. He raised his blaster in the air and fired, the noise of the gunshot silenced the crowd.

"Listen up, bitch's!" yelled the rat, "We are in this shit cause the boss was too much of a fucking pussy, and now he's dead and we're paying for his cock up."

"And what are you gonna do, prick?" roared someone from within the crowd, others began shouting in agreement.

"I'm gonna fix his mistake," replied the rat, his eyes shining with victory. "The boss was sposed meet his contact and give em this thing," he stamped on the crate he was standing on. "So, we trade this for a vast collection of guns and armour, and then we take back this planet and show everyone what happens when you go against the Death Bringers."

The thugs roared with delight, while Fox just sent glares at the power hungry rat. This pest wanted to rule over the scraps of Nova's criminal empire, and cause all sorts of chaos. Fox prepared to strike out from his hiding place, when suddenly; there was a roar of a ships engine overhead. Fox and the Death Bringers to look at it as it landed in front of the thugs. Fox instantly recognised its make as the shuttle that was used in Ghost Company's fleet.

The boarding ramp lowered with ten heavily armed soldiers marching down, followed by a dark green lizard wearing a grey officer's uniform.

"What the fuck do you want?" asked the rat, clearly pissed off at the site of military figures.

"I am looking for Max Nova, your Boss, and a container with a very important piece of cargo," replied the officer, giving the rat a look of disgust.

"Well, sadly the boss was killed in an attack on his hideout," began the rat with a false tone of sympathy, "That makes me in charge, and if you want this thing, your gonna have to pay."

The lizard stared at the rat, while his face didn't show it; his eyes revealed that he was outraged.

"Very well," he replied calmly, "What do you want?"

"Weapons! Lots and lots of weapons," replied the rat.

"Very well then, you can have these," said the Officer, drawing his pistol and shooting the rat in-between the eyes.

Before any of the other thugs could retaliate, the troopers began firing on them immediately after the lizard killed the rat. Several thugs returned fire as the rest broke and fled into the complex. Fox ducked behind a container as three thugs ran past him, completely missing him. The sounds of laser fire died down, Fox checked round the corner to see Ghost Company troops standing over piles of dead Death Bringers.

"You two," the lizard pointed at two soldiers, "Load up the container and any others that have valuable equipment. The rest of you split up and track down any survivors, after that we'll return to the warship."

The officer walked up the boarding ramp as four teams of two went off to track down the Death Bringers, leaving two troops to load the cargo. Fox weighed his options, he kill everyone on the shuttle and fly back to the warship. However, it was possible that Ghost Company had taken precautions because of his presence, so if he hijacked the shuttle, there might be something that could stop and kill him.

On the other hand, he could seek inside the shuttle, hide and wait until he was on the ship. Then, hopefully the ship would return to Ghost Company's GHQ, allowing him wipe out the founders and Ghost Company within a single strike.

When the two soldiers disappeared into the shuttle with the mysterious crate, Fox made his move; he quickly dashed behind the ramp of the shuttle. Soon, the two soldiers returned and Fox quietly climbed onto the ramp and crept into the shuttle. Being similar to ship he stole, Fox made to the cargo bay undetected. The cargo bay was loaded with various crates of different sizes; Fox forced his way behind a large pile as the soldiers returned with another crate. All Fox could, was wait in his cramped position, until the ship took off.

-x-x-x-

A silver lupine wearing a bright red Cornerian Officers uniform, complete with the gold trim along his selves, and gold straps across the front, with black boots and white gloves. He was walking through the corridors of the Command Centre. In his left hand, he held a large red folder, containing some very important documents.

Officers and ranked personal stood out of his way to allow him to pass through the corridors without hindrance. He stopped in front of an office door, the writing on the door read out, General Peppy Hare. With a firm hand, he banged on the door, wanting the General to be fully aware of the importance of this visit.

The hissed open as it rose, allowing the lupine into the spotless office; in front of him was a large desk with a computer, sheets of paper and three framed photos on top. Two black leather chairs were in front of the desk and a large window was behind it, giving a clear view of the base and the city in the distance. Sitting at the desk was an old grey rabbit, wearing a red officer's uniform with gold trim.

"General," said the lupine with a salute.

"This better be important Colonel Silvers," replied Peppy, annoyed with the fact that he was distracted from his work.

"See for yourself," replied Silvers, placing the Folder on the desk. Peppy took the folder and pulled out the documents.

Attached to the first page were several photos of figures both heavily armed and armoured. Some were of them in front of a battle damaged tower, while others were from battle torn streets, a few were of two sides, both equally equipped, fighting it public areas.

"What is this?" asked Peppy, his mind in complete shock.

"After that attack on Kew, I sent a small cell of Cornerian Intelligence Agents there to find out what was going on," was Silvers reply, "These photos show part of a vigilante uprising across the whole planet. They and have set up control at Nova-Corp Tower."

"What were CI Agents doing there?" asked Peppy, surprised that he hadn't been informed.

"I am the head of Cornerian Intelligence, and given that there had been a terrorist attack on Kew, I needed to investigate."

"That doesn't explain why I wasn't informed."

"With all respect sir, this attack could have been done by Venom Rebels and waiting for approval doesn't suit me."

"Still...forget it; I need to meet with these vigilantes."

"Sir, are you sure that's wise?"

"An uprising just happened and I want answers. Now, if there isn't anything else..."

"Actually sir, there's one another thing; it's about that mercenary we hired as a flight instructor."

Peppy stared at Silvers with wide eyes.

"Krystal? What about her?"

"She's failed another ten recruits, which makes nearly eighty seven pilots lost."

Peppy sighed and rubbed his eyelids with his index finger and thumb. He had this conversation with other officers before, Krystal had been hired to train more pilots for the military, but the problem was she had very high standards. A majority of her pilots had failed; some for very minor mistakes or struggling perform a difficult manoeuvre. This forced Peppy to put some of her pilots with other instructors.

Peppy knew why she was hard on the recruits, ever since Fox died, she had become cold, distant, and her training methods were far too difficult. However, the few pilots that did pass her training were like highly skilled aces, something which they needed plenty of.

"Sir, something needs to be done with her, she bullies the recruits and her attitude is disgusting!" said Silvers with a growl finishing off his sentence.

"Listen, she knows not to bully recruits. I admit her training methods are a bit unorthodox, but the few that pass are extremely capable. Now I don't want to have this argument again, understood?"

"Yes sir."

-x-x-x-

Fox waited in his uncomfortable hiding spot behind the crates, listen to the sound of the shuttles engines humming. The shuttle had only just taken off and Fox was already bored, though hopefully it wouldn't be too long before he was on the warship.

Suddenly, the shuttle's engines began to quieten, the shuttle shook slightly, and then silence. The shuttle had finally docked with the warship. Fox waited for a few minutes; no doubt someone was on their way towards the cargo hold.

And sure enough, a group of four crew men entered the cargo hold and surrounded the mysterious crate in the centre. Fox was tempted to jump out of his hiding spot and start eviscerating everyone in sight. However, he decided to hold back, as another plan was forming inside his head.

-x-x-x-

Captain Vander sat down in his chair on the bridge; he had received a transmission from the team that Nova had been killed in an attack, no doubt that McCloud had something to do with it. He typed on the keyboard and the hologram of another ape that had black hair with a few grey strands, was much taller and had a bigger build than he did. The ape also wore a white officer's uniform that was decorated with red and gold trim instead of black.

"Admiral," greeted Captain Vander.

"Captain Vander? This had better be important for you to contact me via this line," said the astonished Admiral.

"Oh I can assure you this is, Nova has been killed, no doubt by McCloud."

"I see, and what of his simple minded scum?"

"They're stepping out of line, hard to believe Nova could control them."

"Hmm, then there is only one course of action, we eliminate the Death Bringers and recover our supplies."

"Yes, but it won't be great, they have been useful allies, and now we turn against them," said Vander sarcastically.

"This isn't betrayal, Captain. This is...pest control," replied the Admiral with a sinister grin, Vander grinned in return.

Suddenly, the roar of a distant explosion echoed throughout the ship, Vander leaped from his seat.

"Where the fuck did that come from?" yelled Vander.

"Sir, it came from the hanger," said one of the crewmen.

"It seems you have a stowaway, Captain," interrupted the Admiral, "McCloud no doubt."

"Don't worry," replied Vander as he drew his pistol from his holster, "I have a little something that will sort him out."

-x-x-x-

Fox sliced the head of a trooper, sending blood, bone, flesh, and shattered helmet across the floor. The few remaining troops retreated to the entrance of the hanger. Orange flames had consumed much of the hanger, while parts of the ceiling had collapsed a result of Fox's entrance.

It had started inside the shuttle's cargo hold, long after the crate had been moved, more crew men came to help shift the rest of the cargo. When one moved to the pile right in front of Fox, he kicked the pile forward, burying the crewman. Fox swiftly lashed out at the other crew men before they could flee.

Fox then ripped a large hole in the wall of the cargo hold, making an opening to the hanger of the warship. Fighters and bombers were lined up along the sides of the hanger or suspended in docking bays built into the walls, racks containing missiles and bombs could be seen next to the spacecraft. Crates and cylinders could be seen nearly everywhere across the hanger, troops, technicians and Pilots could be seen everywhere. Everything stopped went Fox appeared.

Before the troops could get a proper aim, Fox leaped across the hanger and landed near a bomber. He grabbed a bomb from the rack, banged it with his fist to arm it, and then threw it at another bomber on the far side of the hanger. The bomb exploded when it made contact, destroying the bomber, its payload and surrounding bombs. The resulting explosion killed the personal nearby, caused part of the ceiling to collapse and set fire to other parts of the hanger.

Fox charged across the hanger, shredding each and every marine that got in the way, taking in their shots as they desperately tried to kill him. More bombs exploded after being caught in the flames, bringing down more of the hanger on top of Fox and several marines.

The few remaining troops slowly walked towards the pile of rubble. Suddenly, the piles shifted as Fox rose from the rumble, his red eyes burned with hatred. The troops open fire and Fox charged at them, his claws ripping into the troops as he forced way through them.

Fox felt his anger control his every movement, as if he was no longer in control of his body. He tackled a trooper and ripped his torso off from his hips. He pulled the arms off another trooper, allowing the blood to spray over his fur and armour. More marines continued to flow into the corridor, as Fox slowly progressed through the ship. He continued his rampage, gutting and dismembering everyone that crossed his path.

-x-x-x-

In the cargo hold of the warship, several squads of marines had formed a defensive position, amongst the crates of rations, weapons, munitions and other supplies, around the crate they had collected from Kew. Normally, this wouldn't be considered an important location to defend, but with their precious cargo, this was an exception.

Everyone held their breath; they could hear the sounds of lasers and the screams of their fallen comrades echoing throughout the ship. The cargo hold was nothing more than a large room filled with stored away equipment; above them at the edges were two catwalks.

Suddenly, a body burst through the door of the cargo hold on one of the cat walks. All of the marines got into position as Fox McCloud appeared.

"Open fire!" order the Lieutenant.

The marines fired a barrage of lasers straight towards Fox. He shielded his face with his arms, before launching himself on top of the nearest marine. The force of Fox's landing crushed the marine, instantly killing him. One by one, the marines fell to the wrath of McCloud; his claws ripped and tore apart each one.

The marines regrouped by the crate they were meant to guard. This was their last stand against McCloud.

Fox slowly walked towards the remaining marines, they fired every shot they had in his direction. Fox forced his way through the bombardment, ignoring the pain of the lasers as they burnt through his armour. With a fierce roar, Fox charged at his victims, his right hand in hook form, he swung it into a marine's eye and swung him into another marine.

One by one the marines fell to Fox's claws or hook, till there was only one left. The last marine remained standing next to the container, looking at Fox through the lenses on its helmet. Foolishly, the marine charged at Fox, swinging his gun like a club. Fox blocked the swing with arm and stabbed idiot in his abdominal.

Fox looked at the mysterious container they were guarding. What was so important inside that it needed protecting? He carefully approached the container, whatever was inside that container, he needed to know.

Suddenly, Fox felt a sharp in his right shoulder; he spun round to see a squad of Ghost Company snipers. Fox growled and readied his claws; the answer would have to be found out latter...when he had killed the crew.

-x-x-x-

On the bridge of the warship, Captain Vander was organising the defences of the bridge and had the crewmen trying to track Fox's movement throughout his ship. The last report he had was that McCloud had killed the squads in the cargo hold. The number of casualties was stacking up; various squads had lost contact and had been found butchered by McCloud.

Suddenly, there was another explosion, the hull ship groaned and the entire bridge was cloaked in darkness. Everyone stopped what they were doing.

"Captain, McCloud has destroyed the main generator," reported one of the crewmen.

"I realised that you retard," angrily stated the Captain, "It seems that he is heading in our direction."

The marines swiftly returned to the corridor of the Bridge to take up battle positions. With the power out, the crew men on the bridge also took up positions for the expected conflict with Fox McCloud.

-x-x-x-

A squad of marines held their position at one of the corridor's sets of doors, hoping to keep Fox at bay. When Fox appeared at the end of the corridor, the squad let loose their firepower at the target. Fox charged down the corridor, through the lasers without fear.

The squad of five slowly backed up as Fox drew closer and closer. He quickly decapitated the nearest trooper, then stabbing the next trooper in the chest. The other three quickly retreated, just as Fox tore out the second troopers lungs through his chest.

Fox disposed of the corpse and lungs in his hands and glared evilly at the retreating Marines. He sprinted after them, driven by a thirst for blood. The marines dashed round the corner and Fox followed.

Suddenly, Fox stumbled backwards as he felt a barrage of large bullets ripping through his armour and into his flesh. He shielded his face with his arms and yelled from the pain. Looking through the crack between his arms, he could see a large mounted machine gun at the end of the corridor, with Ghost Company Marines on both sides, aiming at him.

Fox growled angrily, taking in the pain of the bullets, he slowly forced his way down the line of fire. The marines checked their aim and opened fire against the struggling Fox. The lasers were enough to temporary stop Fox in his tracks. Gritting his teeth, Fox pushed on faster than before until he was within arm's length of the machine gun. He reached out to grab the machine gun; he pulled it from its frame and from the gunner's hands.

With the machine gun in his hands, Fox aimed it with his shredded arms, and let loose hell. The marines were ripped apart as they fell back down the corridor, their internal organs and blood decorating the corridor. Fox discarded the gun and looked at his ravaged arms. They had much of their flesh ripped away, some of it was hanging off his exposed bones and blood was squirting out heavily.

The pain on his arms intensified as his flesh began to reattach itself and new flesh grew. New pale skin grew over his arms as his muscles finished healing, finally finishing with orange fur over his arms.

Now healed, he walked down the corridor, until a little sign on one door caught his eye, The Captain's Quarters. Using his claws, Fox forced the sliding doors open, leaving deep cuts in the door. Inside the Captain's quarters, was a lone bed, a desk beside a wardrobe, and a door to a restroom. On the desk were several documents and a computer.

Fox looked over the documents; they were nothing more than progress reports, maintenance reports, etc, all the boring bullshit to him. He checked the computer for anything else that was interesting, something that could help him track down the other Founders, or what was Ghost Company's big plan. Fortunately, the computer wasn't password protected.

"This Captain is an idiot," Fox thought.

Hundreds of folders appeared on the screen, he searched through them until he caught sight of one marked 'Ghost Company'. He pulled the data disk out from his pocket, surprised that it was still intact after all the action, and plugged it in. Soon, the file was downloaded; Fox put the disc away and left the captain's quarters. His final stop on this warship was the bridge.

-x-x-x-

What was left of the entire crew of the warship had retreated to the bridge, where they set up defences along the corridor, there had originally had been two hundred crewmen on board the warship. Now, they had been reduced to no more than thirty or so crewmen. A majority of them were nothing more than technician's with little or no combat experience. Some of the crewmen were able to get the bridges emergency power back online, but only just enough to power communication system and life support.

The captain sighed; most of the crewmen who weren't soldiers didn't have a glue of what they were doing. One of them was holding an emergency axe, while the rest of them were equipped with blaster pistols; they weren't lethal enough to harm their attacker. Fortunately, he was equipped with a unique blaster; created by a fellow Founder for him should he encounter the rogue experiment.

"THERE HE IS!" roared a Marine that was pointing at the end of the corridor, directly at the lone vulpine.

"ALL UNITS ATTACK!" commanded the Captain, the survivors opened fire against Fox.

The vulpine charged straight into the first line of survivors, using his claws to swiftly dispose of them like the weaklings they were. He slowly moved down the corridor, leaving a pile of shredded bodies and blood splattered all over the corridor.

As Fox closed in, the number of survivors continued to drop. He noticed the technician with the axe, and sneered. The technician was nothing more than a skinny beagle that looked like he was easy to snap. The beagle charged straight at Fox, swinging the axe like wild.

Fox sneered at the beagle, as he swung the axe in his direction. Swiftly, Fox grabbed the handle of the axe with his left hand, and kicked the technician in sensitive area. The beagle foolishly let go of the axe and huddled over from the pain, Fox saw his opening and took it, smashing the axe blade into the beagle's skull. The blade ripped half way through the beagles head, resulting in a cracking sound, and causing blood squirted out the sides.

Fox let go of the handle and allowed the corpse to drop, the axe popped out of the technicians skull when it hit the floor. One by one, the last of the survivors continued to be horribly mutilated by the out of control vulpine.

Soon, Fox was holding the last trooper's neck within his right paw. The vulpine tightened his grip until the soldier's life faded away. All that was left was the Captain, alone on the bridge. Throughout the whole skirmish, the Captain never fired a single shot, even though he had his pistol drawn. It didn't bother the vulpine; he was going to die like the rest of his men.

He charged directly at the Captain, his claws twitching to rip him apart. The Captain just stood still, as if he was waiting for death to come for him. When Fox entered the bridge however, he quickly aimed his pistol at Fox and pulled the trigger. A bright green pulse launched from the gun, Fox placed his arms in front to bloke the pathetic shot...or so he thought.

The shot made contact with Fox, disintegrating the much of the flesh on his arms, while sending him flying backwards into the corridor. Although the piles of death bodies broke his fall, Fox yelled out from the pain in his arms, the flesh on the outer half of his lower arms was destroyed, exposing parts of his bones which had been scorched. The pain was so immense; Fox felt his claws return to his normal hands.

Captain Vander slowly walked towards the squirming vulpine, a wide grin plastered on his face. He going to kill their greatest enemy, the one who defeated them and Andross in the Lylat war, the one who viciously killed hundreds of Ghost Company troops, the one responsible for the death of a founder.

He aimed his pistol at the vulpines head, ready to pull the trigger. Suddenly, Fox shot up and tackled him to the ground, knocking the pistol away. Though Fox was heavily wounded, he was going finish off this bastard. Each fist he threw was like a hammer blow to his victim, Vander desperately returned many punches and kicks in a vain attempt to get free from the crazed vulpine. Fox then stood up and hauled the captain into the air by his neck.

Vander feared that Fox was choking him to death. He guessed when the vulpine threw him into the side of the bridge. Fox slowly moved in on the battered ape that was struggling to stand. He fired more punches at his next victim; admittedly, the ape was a much better fighter than the overweight crime lord.

Fox prepared for another punch when the Captain punched him in the muzzle. The vulpine stumbled back slightly and glared at the ape with his twisted red eyes. He could feel the burning pain in his arms grow stronger, most likely being that his arms were constructing new flesh.

The eyes on the ape widened to the size of asteroids, a look of shock and terror decorated his face. Fox guessed that the ape realised that his end had come, and unlike the last time, the vulpine wasn't gonna let this one talk his way out. He pulled both his arms back, and fired his fists into Vander's chest.

But what Fox saw wasn't his fists, in fact, it wasn't even his arms. Below his elbows, he could see the metallic grey twisted flesh, but the rest of his arms, and hands were gone. Instead, in their place, were two long metallic blades, their tips were buried in the Captain's chest. Crimson blood trickled down the blades, and poured from the dead Captain's chest. Fox removed his new weapons from Vander, ignoring the corpse's fall, and studied them. The top of the blades were completely straight, while below they curved from the tip down till they reached his elbow. Questions ran through the shocked and confused vulpines mind, what was happening to him.

He slowly turned around, casting a glace out the observation windows on the bridge, amazed by the beauty of the dark blue orb outside, before walking...A blue orb. Fox ran back to the window, it wasn't an orb he saw, but a planet. One that he knew far too well. Ahead he could see a _Dreadnought_ Heavy Class Cruiser approaching, flanked by two smaller cruisers.

To Fox, these ships were easily recognisable, a _Dreadnought_ Class Cruiser had once served as his home, before it was destroyed. All three ships were used by only one organisation in the whole Lylat. They belonged to Cornerian Military, and the planet ahead was none other than Corneria. A loud beeping system emitted from a terminal. Fox pulled away from the window to investigate; on the terminal he pressed a glowing red button. Suddenly, a voice filled the empty bridge of the ship.

"Unidentified warship, you are trespassing in the Cornerian system. Indentify yourself and you will be escorted out of the system." Came a deep voice from the terminal.

Fox froze, he couldn't reply. Someone might recognise his voice, and then he would be screwed. He must have spent too long thinking about what to do, because the voice returned.

"Unidentified warship, you have failed to reply, and so will be boarded by the Cornerian Military."

"Oh shit," was all Fox could say.

**So here's chapter 7, I know it took too long but I've been really busy. Since this is what you want, Fox will be meeting Krystal and the rest in another one, maybe two, chapters. Though let's just say it could be under better circumstances. Anyway say what you think, and I'll get righting.**


	8. Ghost Ship

Falco was walking through the empty corridors on the Cornerian _Dreadnought_ Class Cruiser, _The Survivor_. His team had been hired by the military for basic jobs, such as patrols and escorting convoys, the pay was small, compared to what he got paid back in Star Fox. This time was something new, when the planetary sensor's picked up a Venom Warship entering Corneria's orbit, Star Falco were sent with an entire platoon of marines.

Though this ship was the same class as the_ Great Fox,_ there was very little about it that was the same. The Great Fox had individual rooms for the members of the Star Fox team, only the captain of the ship would have their own room on a Cornerian Military ship. The Great Fox had a pool, gym, firing range, a proper lounge and other luxuries; this had none of those things, so that there could be more storage room, more crew quarters and more defence weapons.

Falco signed to the empty corridor, he hadn't been able to afford a new carrier ship for his team. The Great Fox II had been sold since it was showing its age, and also he could afford some more fighters and equipment for his new team members. His new team mates however, he felt were worth the cost, having previous experience with two of them.

One of them was a Lynx, Miyu and the other was a poodle, Fay. Both of them had been members of the Star Fox team for a short time, but quit when things became boring. Miyu had golden coloured fur covered with brown markings in random areas and an athletic body. Fay had pure white fur, blue eyes and an athletic body as well. They final member of the team, Falco knew very little about, Jaws. Jaws was a great white shark from Aquas, his species had only been recently discovered a few months ago, living in the deepest darkest depths of the ocean.

Jaws was roughly Falco's height, give or take a few inches', his skin was bluish grey, with the exception of his face and possibly his chest, which was pale white. He had a long pointed nose with a pair of small beady black eyes, and had thin white lips that hid two rows of sharp white teeth. Jaws was a tribal warrior and a hunter amongst his people, having learnt several rare skills that Falco felt would be useful for the team.

Soon, he had reached the bridge of _The Survivor_, where he would meet the captain. The bridge had consoles running along the sides, next to the observation window. Crewmen could be seen at the consoles, analysing, flight paths, ship status and other things Falco couldn't bother to think about.

Standing in the middle of the bridge was the Captain, a light grey husky, wearing a green officer's uniform with gold trim. Several Sergeants were grouped in front of the Captain; all of them stood to attention as he approached. The Captain cleared his throat and began the brief.

"Alright, listen up because I'm not gonna say it again," began the Captain, "A Venom warship has been found entering Cornerian space and failed to respond to our message. This can lead us to assume that it's of rebel origin, therefore a possible threat."

Falco and the sergeants never once moved their eyes away from the Captain.

"Your mission is to get aboard and gather up any crewmen you come across, do NOT open fire unless fired on first. Captain Lombardi, your team will go first through the boarding passage, hold your position at the end until more units arrive on the scene. Is that understood?"

"Yes Captain!" replied the group, before they left the bridge.

-x-x-x-

_The Survivor_ pulled up alongside the starboard side the warship, leaving a gap just large enough for an Arwing to fit in, allowing a small boarding tube to leave the middle of the Cornerian ship to cross the small void between the two ships. The tube made contact with the ships airlock, thanks to some careful accuracy, linking the two warships.

Star Falco were the first to head down the corridor, Falco was carrying a standard Cornerian laser rifle that had been heavily modified by Slippy. Katt had two blaster pistols equipped on her belt, and an incinerator pack on her back. Miyu was using a shotgun with a mini flamethrower attachment. Fay was using her own personal laser rifle, and Jaws had an unmodified semi-automatic rifle, and his personal war-blade.

The team marched down the passage to the airlock; the passage was nothing more than a dull grey corridor that extended over a short distance. At the far end, were the black metal exterior doors of the warship. Katt grabbed the handle of her incinerator pack, igniting a small white hot spark at the end, and began to cut through the airlock door. She slowly melted the door near the edge, leaving a glowing orange trail. When she had cut around the whole door, Katt switched off the pack and allowed Jaws to move to the door.

With a firm kick, the metal slab toppled backwards, breaching the airlock. To the team, it was surprisingly dark inside the ship, there should be some light from within, and another thing that was strange was the noise, it was completely quiet silent. No alarms, no rushing footsteps, nothing. Falco could guess that they were setting an ambush, had abandoned the ship, or something bad had happened, something really bad.

Falco took a small torch from his belt and shone it inside. There seemed to be nothing out of place inside the airlock, Falco stepped carefully inside, followed one by one by the rest of the team. The team readied their weapons as Falco opened the airlock door. The corridor was dark and lifeless, nothing was emitting light and no-one could be seen. Falco shone his light over the walls; they were black as the very void of space and were completely metal. He shone his torch at the end, where there was another corner; on the wall was a deep red liquid, splattered over it.

Falco shone the torch over it, and then lowered its glare to the floor. He froze at the sight of the next thing, on the floor, spread out, was the corpse of a soldier. The armour on his chest had been ripped apart, and his shredded organs were sticking out of his chest.

His team mates all had a look of horror on them as they stared at the corpse. Falco slowly approached the end of the corridor, and shone his light in both directions. Both littered with corpses sprawled across the floors and leaning against the walls, drenched in their own blood. Bullet holes and laser burns scarred the walls, a clear indication of battle. But who or what they were fighting was a mystery, and it scared Falco.

He returned focus to his team, their faces showed that they were uncomfortable from this development, but they had a job to do and were in need of the credits.

"Katt, Jaws, you two watch the left corridor. Miyu, Fay take the right," ordered Falco.

The team did as they were commanded in silence, clearly unnerved by the sight of the victims and not wanting to be like them. Falco activated the small communicator that was in his ear.

"Bridge, this is Star Falco."

-x-x-x-

On the bridge of _The Survivor_, the Captain waited for a reply from the team. Fortunately, he didn't have to wait long, as the bridges com-officer picked up a signal coming from the team.

"Bridge, this is Star Falco," came the bird's voice through the speakers.

"Captain Lombardi, what is your situation?" demanded the Captain.

"We have set up around the air lock and made contact. But Captain, all the crew in our area are dead."

The Captain was shocked and speechless. Dead, what had happened?

"Do you have any idea of what happened?"

"Well...there's clear indication of battle, laser scorches and bullet holes, but only Venom casualties. No indication of who, or what, they were fighting."

The word 'what' had the largest impact on the Captain. Something had killed the crew, but what 'it' was and was 'it' still on board were the most important questions.

"Captain Lombardi, reinforcements will be sent across," replied the Captain after a long wait, "Head to the bridge to find any clues to this mystery. If you come into contact with... whatever did this, inform us and with draw."

"Understood," replied Falco.

-x-x-x-

Falco didn't have to wait long for more troops to arrive; all of them had the same look of horror plastered on their faces the moment they saw the mutilated corpses. Several squads were sent to check sections of the ship.

The Star Falco team grouped together, and slowly walked down the corridor towards the bridge. Falco, Fay and Jaws had attached their flash lights to the end of their weapons, partially illuminating the battle scarred, corpse riddled corridor.

-x-x-x-

A five man squad slowly crept towards the cargo hold, deep in the bowels of the ship. The dark corridors were all destroyed from the marks of gun fire, and littered with the corpses of the dead men who were slain by something dangerous, wild and powerful.

Soon, they reached the shadow engulfed cargo hold; the inside was like a large maze of storage containers. The floor was covered with puddles of dark crimson blood, along with the shredded remains of soldiers. The Squad continued to slowly walk through the passages between the containers, checking every corner for any sign of the thing that did this.

As they moved deeper into the hold, the number of corpses slowly began to increase in certain directions. The Sergeant, a collie, ordered the squad to follow the trail of corpses. The trail continued to increase with the number of corpses and large pools of blood until the nearly the whole floor was covered by the crimson paint.

After following the gory path that had been created, the squad found the largest cluster of body parts surrounding a large chrome container that was stained with blood. The sergeant moved closer to inspect the container, judging from the large number of victims, they were most likely trying to defend this container. It showed no signs of damage, but whatever was inside must have been important, and if the crew were rebels, then it needed to be studied.

-x-x-x-

The Star Falco team were in a heavily battle torn corridor, the damage done to the corridor the worst they had seen so far. While one end only had a few scorch marks and bullet holes, the other was end was completely trashed, with wall panels blown off, corpses strewn across the floor, and a broken mounted machine gun.

The team had stopped when Jaws wanted to study the scene as to what had happened. To Falco, it seemed understandable; there was something odd that didn't make sense.

Jaws had checked the wounds on the corpses, revealing large bullets stuck in their flesh, and a closer analysis revealed that they were the same bullets from the machine gun that was broken.

"So, it seems whatever killed these men, was capable of using weapons," reported Falco.

"This just adds more to the confusion," Fay spoke up.

"That isn't all, canine," Said Jaws, his voice was deep and had a slight rasp, "There are almost two piles of these bullet chambers you speak of."

Jaws pointed at the two clusters of bullet chambers not to far away from each other, with a few more chambers scattered around. The largest cluster was nearest the corpses.

"Care to explain what's so important about the chambers?" asked Falco, failing to understand the meaning.

"I might still be learning from your life styles, but a good hunter must be able to study his environment, and I learnt a lot from your warriors."

"So what did you find out?" asked Miyu, annoyed from Jaws' time wasting.

"This pile is both larger and closer to these fallen warriors, if I am correct about your weapons, whoever was wielding this weapon, was fighting whatever killed them." Jaws explained and continued. "So if more bullets were used by the warrior, why is there so few bullet markings on the wall, and no body of the attacker."

"I see what you're getting at," said Falco, "but it feels nearly impossible."

-x-x-x-

Fox was stuck at the main console on the bridge, he was trying to find some way to get off the warship before Cornerian military found him, it was would be difficult explain how he was alive and what happened. After a lot of effort in trying to come up with a plan, one finally hit Fox, however, it was dangerous and would put innocent lives in danger.

Suddenly, Fox's ears twitched, he could hear the faint sound of footsteps, and voices. Maybe he could carry out the plan and not worry about casualties. He cast his gaze to the Captains corpse in the corner of the bridge.

-x-x-x-

The Star Falco team were standing just outside the door to the bridge it was surprisingly intact, all the damage indicated that whatever attacked was capable of unleashing damage of an unimaginable scale, and yet the door wasn't even scratched.

"Weapons ready, don't attack without my order," commanded Falco in the firm tone of a leader.

Miyu opened the door and the team were again greeted by another grim sight. Ahead of them was a short corridor door leading to the bridge, which was flooded with the severed remains of bloody corpses and large pools of blood. The team carefully threaded over the remains, due to the very little foot space on the floor.

"Does anyone find this odd?" asked Katt, "I mean, we find a closed door with the remains of savage attacks behind it, and yet its intact."

"Your point is?" replied Falco.

"Someone closed the door."

Unlike the rest of the ship, there was only the minimum light on the bridge, coming from a few lights and several consoles. As Fay, last one of the group to make it through the bridge door, a small wet droplet splashed on the end of her muzzle. The canine brushed it off with her left index finger, only a dark red smear across the end of her finger. Worry embedded itself into the young canine, and she slowly looked up to the small patch of space above the door way, her eyes widened in shock.

"Guys," Fay called out.

The others turned round to Fay and looked up to see what she had found. On the wall, written in dark red blood, was the word _RUN_. A trail of blood from the N, ran down the wall past the door, along the floor and ended at the foot of an intact officer's corpse on top of a console.

Falco carefully approached the body and hauled it off the console. Unlike the other corpses, this corpse had two large stab wounds in his chest that looked deep enough to have gone the whole way through. Blood continued to slowly ooze out of the wound, and onto the flashing red screen on the console. Curiosity took control of Falco, letting the corpse drop and wiping away the blood from the screen. Hoping to find some sort of answer as to what had happened, however what he saw had a far more shocking revelation. On the screen, in bright red writing, was: _SELF-DISTRUCT ACTIVATED: 21:03 till detonation._

"MOVE!" roared Falco in a panic, the team was confused momentarily before Falco pointed at the screen.

Just as they were about to leave the bridge, a loud bang echoed from the corridor. The team aimed their weapons down the corridor, at a figure crouched down amongst the remains of the unfortunate crew.

The figure slowly turn its shadow engulfed head round to look at the team. Its glowing red eyes fully locked on them, everyone stared back at the thing that had, without a doubt, killed the entire crew of the ship. Even with their guns aimed at that thing, their fear was obvious to anyone. Their hands were shaking, distorting their aim, their grip weakened from sweat and their minds consumed by gruesome possible outcomes this thing was capable of.

Suddenly, the thing sprinted down the corridor and disappeared into the shadows of the ships depths, leaving the team in confusion. The shock from the encounter soon wore off when they remember their situation, and fled.

-x-x-x-

Back on the bridge of _The Survivor_, the Captain was pacing around. Cargo from the ship was being transferred to _The Survivor_, for analysis and permanent storage. Suddenly, the com-officer received an urgent transmission from the Star Falco team for the Captain.

"Star Falco Team, this is The Survivor, what do you have to report?" asked the Captain.

"GET EVERYONE OFF THE SHIP, NOW!" came a frenzied roar.

"Captain Lombardi! How dare you speak to your superior in th..." began the husky before he was interrupted by the avian.

"THIS SHIP'S SELF-DISTRUCT HAS BEEN ACTIVATED!" he yelled in reply.

True to his word, the ships surface flashed brightly as small explosions erupted along the ship. Everyone on the bridge instantly stopped what they were doing and stared in complete shock. When the blasts died away, only large holes marked the locations of where they erupted from.

"All units, report in!" commanded the hopeful hound.

For a minute there was silence, but soon the communicator was alive with the sound of the squad leaders. It had been fortunate that no one had been killed from the isolated explosions, which were meant to begin damaging the ship without endangering its former crew.

"All units withdraw from that ship!" commanded the Captain. Hoping to stamp out any dreams of glory from the greener recruits.

-x-x-x-

Fox was zooming through the shadow engulfed passages of the ship, based on what he could remember of the ship from his rampage, he was heading towards the escape pods on the port side of the ship, his plan was to wait inside one until the ship really began blowing itself apart. Then, thanks to all of the debris, Fox would be able to launch the escape pod with the Cornerian military realising, and if they did track the pod, he would be long gone.

At the end of the corridor, was a large metal that look completely sealed. A small smirk crawled across Fox's lips, and he increased his speed. Pointing his left shoulder at the door, Fox smashed through door in one solid shot. Much of the doors mid-section had been smashed into broken shards of metal, with the edges of the large dent wear Fox made his own passage. Along the wall to Fox's right, were roughly ten hatches that each lead to an individual pod.

The vulpine approached the nearest hatch, and opened it by pressing on the control panel beside it. The hatch whispered as it opened for Fox, allowing him inside, before sealing behind him. The inside of the pod had four seats along the edge of the pod, with a fifth in front of a a small observation window and control panel, with a control column. The vulpine sat down in the pilot in the cramp pod and waited.

But at the back of his mind, there was something Fox couldn't stop thinking about. On the bridge, after he dropped down from the ceiling, the last thing he expected was his old team mates. When he saw them, and they saw him, he could see their faces as clear as day. The look of shock and terror had upset him, if he had revealed himself how would they've reacted, would they be shocked but accept him even after what he had become, or would they refuse to believe it and just try to gun him down.

"_They would have tried to kill you." _Hissed a voice.

Fox looked around the pod in a panic, looking for the source of that voice, but it was empty. Only he was inside the pod. Shaking his head, Fox used the console to monitor the ships countdown.

-x-x-x-

The husky watched the Venom warship continue to blow itself apart. Another section was ripped apart as another explosion erupted from within the ships haul. When the flames died away, the captain could see a countless number of corpses and various body parts from the unfortunate crew. All squads had successful withdrew from the ship, but they still had get clear of that ship before it took them with it. The cruisers had already moved to a safe distance.

The boarding tube had just been withdrawn from the self-destructing warship. Allowing the Cornerian warship's engines to burn brightly as the stars themselves. Slowly, the _Dreadnought _Cruiser pulled away as the warship was about to explode.

-x-x-x-

Fox stared at the small timer on the console, roar of the ship destroying itself could be heard clearly from within the sealed Pod. There was fifteen seconds till the ship was completely destroyed, Fox moved a finger above the launch button and steadied his breathing. This would be close, and there was a large chance something could go wrong. The counter had dropped to ten seconds and the vulpine stared hard at it, refusing to blink if to miss a second. 10...9...8...7...6...5, Fox pressed the launch button and the pod shot out the ship, heading towards the planet below.

With the valuable seconds to escape gone, the already crippled warship was consumed in an enormous fireball. Pieces of debris were scattered everywhere, ranging from large chunks to tiny fragments. Because of how close Fox was, he battled amongst the rapid pieces of scrap. Large white hot sparks from the ship fired past the pod, casting dazzling light into Fox's eyes.

The vulpine shielded his eyes with his left hand, as he struggled against the seemingly endless barrage of scrap metal. Suddenly, the pod shook violently, leaving the struggling vulpine, fighting for control. Fox guest that something had damaged the pod, causing the controls to become unresponsive. The console was lit up with flashing red warning lights, as the pod continued to shake. Fox's eyes darted around the console, trying to ready the various warnings.

The pod shock again as it entered the planet's atmosphere, flames started to slowly consume the pod as its speeds increased. As the vulpine continued to fight for control, he could see through the flame engulfed window and spotted large city in the distance, with a large body of water behind it. Fox pulled the control column into his chest, hoping to at least avoid crashing in the middle of the city. Slowly, Fox felt the pod rise into the air, as it zoomed past an enormous skyscraper.

The vulpine held his breath as he tried to glide through the jungle of towers, and towards the sea. Fox could imagine the crowds forming below, all looking to see the burning object flying through the air. The pod continued rush past the tall metal spires of the city, leaving a long line of thick, black smoke over the city. As Fox flew past the last tower, the pod began to decline at a much quicker rate. Fox forced the pod to climb, or least stay in the air long enough to avoid crashing into the ground.

The pod was now flying over a residential area, shaking vigorously, and spewing out thick smoke. Fox looked out the windscreen to see he was nearing the beach head. The vulpine reached out to the console and grabbed the lever titled thrust, and pushed it as far as it would go. The pod shot forward moving at an incredible speed for a pod, however, the frame of the pod shock more vigorously, Fox could hear the sound of metal groaning and grinding under the stress. Suddenly, as the pod zoomed across the clear blue ocean, a loud bang could be heard from the outside of the ship.

The sound caught Fox completely off guard, during the brief moment of shock; the vulpine had lost complete control of the pod. The pod had begun a rapid decline, the vulpine once again battle for control, but this time, he had lost.

The pod smashing into the shimmering blue sea, creating large waves from the impact. When the Pod hit the water, Fox shot from his seat and into the observation screen, before landing on top of the now smashed console. A large cut had been made across his forehead, causing his dark red blood to leak out down his face and on to the console.

Slowly, he pushed himself back into his seat; he winced and hissed from the pain he felt across his body. His ribs felt like they had been smashed, his right paw had been dislocated and he could taste blood in his mouth.

What parts of the console hadn't been smashed, were no longer a light with the power gone. The bottom half observation window was covered from the dark blue water of the sea, while the top showed the bright orange sky of dusk on Corneria.

Gently, Fox grabbed his dislocated hand and fiercely forced it into place. The vulpine grit his teeth and growled from the agonising pain, as a loud click could be heard as it was put back in place. With his hand back in place, Fox slowly stood up from his seat, the vulpine wobbled from the unsteady floor and feeling of dizziness. The vulpine slowly made his way to the middle of the pod, and braced himself for the painful transformation of his left hand.

With his hand in its claw form, Fox tore three large tears into the roof of the pod, letting some light from the outside into the dark interior. The vulpine tore across them again, leaving a criss-cross pattern, then tightened his clawed hand into an odd fist and punched the weakened roof. Large shards of metal scattered everywhere as Fox's fist forced the damaged roof apart.

Using what strength he could muster, Fox scrambled out through the hole and sat down on the edge. With his mouth now bursting with blood, Fox spat out the crimson fluid over the side of the pod, leaving a small patch of blood, with droplets flowing down the side.

Despite all that had happened and the complete pain he was in, for a moment, Fox felt like he was at peace, the orange sky was beautiful, and the sound of the waves calmly lapping against the pod was calming. It was enough for him to think back to a more happy memory, back when he was with the Star Fox team.

They were on vacation on one of Corneria's beaches, after being able to get a private spot away from the crowds. The white sandy shore, the cloudless blue sky and the clear blue sea, something that was perfect. What had been interesting for Fox, was while he was alone, Krystal appeared out of the water in a black bikini, which was nothing but string, with a few patches that covered the small pink mounds on her large breasts and her downstairs front.

The sight of her soaking wet breasts jiggling and bouncing uncontrollably from within their flimsy restraints, and her hips swaying as she walked towards him, left Fox feeling uncomfortable inside his swimming shorts. He couldn't believe she convinced him to go skinny dipping with her, and after becoming excited during their time together, she was able to get him to have more 'naughty' fun as she put it, leaving his towel messy after that.

The vulpine smiled at the happy memory, even to this day; he still didn't know what he was thinking back then, or how they hadn't been caught. Returning his mind back to the present, Fox cast his gaze over to Corneria City in the distance. With his hand feeling better than it originally was, Fox dived into the water and began to swim.

**Well here is chapter 8, it would have been up sooner if my computer hadn't chosen to crash again. Plus originally this one was going to be twice as long, but the other half will be in the next chapter. I'll try to get 9 finished, but I have two difficult exams coming up so I will spending more time studying and less writing this story. Sorry for your disappointment.**


	9. Connected Events

.

**Here's Chapter 9, basically what I didn't get to add onto Chapter 8. Basically, it shows a load of events that followed the ships destruction, leading up to the discovery of Founder number 3.**

The bridge of _The Survivor_ was silent, with only the voice being the Captain, speaking to Command over the communicator. Outside they could see the scattered remains of the destroyed warship floating in the void of space. The near death experience had had an effect on the whole crew, especially the younger, greener recruits, who had no experience of such events. Arguably, however, the Star Falco team was the most shaken up, only they had been refusing to speak of their experience.

When the Captain had finally ended his report to command, everyone on the bridge turned to face him. The Captain composed himself, ready to give the orders.

"Turn us around and bring us back to the planet," he ordered, his voice carried authority, but there was what sounded like doubt in his voice, "And have the Star Falco team assemble on the bridge in ten minutes."

When the Star Falco team finally arrived, they looked completely shaken, though they were trying to hide it. Falco stood in front of the Captain, his eyes were slightly wide and glazed, his mind was away, remembering when they encountered that…thing on the bridge, its horrid red eyes still chilled his spine.

"Captain Lombardi!" The avian immediately returned to where he was, standing in front of an officer who had no idea of what he had encountered.

"Since your team reported the ship Self-Destruction process had been activated, what did you exactly encounter on the Bridge?" asked the Captain, clearly desperate to hear what had happened on that ship.

"With all due respect Captain," began Falco, "I will inform you of what transpired, but only in private."

Falco was hoping to prevent fear and panic spreading through the ranks of the ship. The Captain's raised his left eyebrow out of curiosity, but guided the avian out of the bridge.

-x-x-x-

A tired and dripping wet vulpine crawled out of the sea and onto white sandy beach. When clear of the water, the vulpine collapsed to the floor. Fox slowly rolled onto his back; his eyes shut and began to take deep breaths. After all he had experienced, to rest for a short moment, just to catch his breath, was a luxury. Night was nearly upon him as the sky above darkened.

"_Fox!"_

The vulpine's eyes snapped wide open, he heard a voice call out his name. The voice itself, sounded familiar, like an angel. The exhausted vulpine forced his head to look in the direction of the voice. Running towards him across the beach was a vixen with dark blue and white fur, wearing a distinctive golden loincloth that was very familiar to Fox.

"Krystal…" he whispered in surprise, how did she know he would be here? The vulpine held out his hand to her, trying to reach her.

But she was no longer there; she had vanished with no trace she was even there at all. Fox closed his hand into a fist, and smashed it into the wet sand. Krystal had never been there at all, it had been a trick by his mind. Fox released a small growl as he stood up. His gazed locked on the city in front. With each heavy step, Fox walked towards the city.

-x-x-x-

General Peppy Hare sat in his private planetary transport, with an armed guard of four soldiers. Inside the transport was very little, there were a total of five chairs, two in front with three behind them. Peppy was sat in the middle chair on the back row, with the guards surrounding him. In front were three doors, one led to the cockpit, will the two side doors used for boarding.

The general was to attend a meeting with the famous vigilante group that was calling themselves the Kew Security Force. Though it was a nice thought to have some security on this planet, how they were able to assume such control was something of concern, or whether they could be trusted or not was also an important matter.

There was a slight shake as the ship gently rocked from turbulence, before they could feel the ship descending. A slight jump signalled they had landed; a soldier was quick to stand and open the left door. A small set of steps deployed from underneath the transport as the door opened.

Peppy and his armed guard quickly disembarked from the transport. The General used this time to get a good look of his surroundings as the other transports descended. He was standing in front of the large Nova-Corp Tower, with the structure itself still bearing the scars of the battle that took place here not long ago. The neon sign on the front was heavily damage, with the letters N, V and P missing. The plaza where the transport had landed was missing much of its surface, where the roof of the underground car park caved it.

Scattered around the plaza were men and women dressed in battered armour, and wielding weapons that had not been well maintained. However, despite the rugged look of the equipment, some of it was unfamiliar to Peppy, despite the visible condition; it would be wise to assume that the technology was far more advanced than much of the equipment used by the Cornerian Military.

The patrolling vigilantes were surprisingly ignorant at the presence of the Cornerian Military, with only a few sending the odd glance in their direction. Leaving the tower, was a group of three dressed in armour which was in very poor condition, and aside for the small pistols they had holstered on their belts, they were unarmed and walking towards the group of soldiers. The group consisted of a silver vixen, a dark green lizard and a golden jaguar.

Peppy could see some of his bodyguards tighten their grip on their weapons, despite giving strict orders not to fire unless fired on first; it wasn't hard to see that some of the troops were struggling to resist. The small group calmly and slowly approached the General until they were only a meter apart.

"Are you General Peppy Hare?" asked the Vixen in a calm tone, Peppy nodded his head. "Would you come with us, our Commander would like to talk to you."

Peppy thought over the offer, whether these people could be trusted or not was a mystery, but if they were willing to offer diplomacy, it would be a better option than starting a pointless conflict while they were already at war with the remains of Andross' forces.

"Very well," replied Peppy, the vixen nodded her head, and led the General and his bodyguards into the tower.

Inside the tower was in a much worse condition. Large sections of the numerous floors had been destroyed, leaving large piles rubble that was being cleared away by the troops. Laser scorch marks and bullet holes devastated the walls and floor. In the middle, was a large golden statue that was surrounded by scaffolding, with people wielding plasma cutter and powerful saws to cut off parts of the statue. The vixen led the General to the back of the tower to an elevator.

After the long elevator ride, General Peppy and his bodyguards were standing in what looked like the CEO's office, but had seen conflict. Large burns were spread across the walls and a few covered the floor. An empty conference table stood at the side of the room. At the back, the only sign of damage was the smashed window. Leaning against a desk that stood in front of the window, was a female Labrador wearing a battered but well maintained suit of armour. Beside her were several figures, all wearing similar apparel. The woman dismissed the group that had escorted the General and greeted them was a small smile.

"General Peppy, might I start by saying it is an honour to meet a hero such as yourself," she greeted, her pleasant tone was rather unsettling for Peppy, "I believe you are here due to our recent disposal of the Death Bringer Crime Syndicate."

"That, along with other things," replied Peppy. The woman pointed her hand at the table, gesturing him to sit, the hare complied but not without his suspicions. Both he and the woman sat down on two of the nearest chairs, while the others remained standing.

"Let me introduce myself, my name is Becky, and what would you like to discuss?" asked the woman, again surprisingly welcoming.

"First of," began Peppy, "What exactly happened that forced you to destroy the heart of one of Lylat's most prosperous companies and kill it's CEO?"

"Well, long story short," began Becky, her posture was calm and relaxed, "Max Nova was an notorious crime lord, he was somehow able to take control of the street gang the Death Bringers, and used his business to convert them into a system wide crime organization, using his company as a front."

"Do you have any evidence to support your claim?" inquired Peppy, hoping to see how they would react. Surprisingly, Becky was still calm and placed a data disk in front of him.

"All of their info is stored on that little disc," she replied, "Please, take it."

Peppy picked up the disc and handed it to one of his bodyguards. The guard stashed it away inside pouch on his belt.

"Secondly, I see you are in possession in some very unique hardware, very advanced hardware I believe," said Peppy; he noticed the Labrador's eyes lids twitch slightly. "Would you kindly tell me where you were able to get hold of such equipment?"

"Did you hear of the Nova-Corp shipping yard that was destroyed along with medical supplies?" asked Becky in reply, Peppy nodded. "That was bullshit. It wasn't medical supplies that were destroyed; it was weapons from an unknown supplier. We were responsible for burning that place to the ground, but only after we helped ourselves to some of their goods."

Becky's body continued to be relaxed, although Peppy could see that she was slightly tense, whether this was from letting slip she was behind what was believed to be a terrorist attack, or that she was hiding something else, Peppy didn't know.

"Do you have any idea on who Nova's mysterious contact was?" asked Peppy, quickly getting an answer.

"We have been able to identify that they were receiving support from rogue venom forces." The last three words hit Peppy across the face hard, what were rebel forces doing supporting a crime gang? What benefit would this provide them? So many questions were coming to face Peppy, but so few answers existed.

"Excuse me General," asked Becky, Peppy snapped out of his trance, "Is that all you have to say, or do you have any more questions?"

"Actually," began Peppy, "I do have another question. Forgive me for saying, but your followers, are not soldiers, and for them to pull off such actions that would require highly trained soldiers. Did you not receive help yourself?"

This time, Becky wasn't so calm; her hands had tightened into fists and began to shake slightly. Her calm smile had vanished, replaced with a frown that looked rather stressed. Peppy had finally hit something, something that this woman didn't want to share. It was only after a few tense seconds did she finally reply.

"We were able to hire a few local mercenaries to aid and train us," she replied, though Peppy could see logic in her answer, it wasn't enough. According to the report he received, the vigilante uprising was planet wide, and for them to be successful would require a small army of mercenaries to train and fight alongside this 'militia'.

"How were you able to afford these mercenaries?" asked Peppy, unlike him, most mercenaries were often greedy, his former teammate, Pigma, who betrayed him and James over a few credits, was a prime example. So, local mercenaries here would not be very charitable.

"We..." began Becky, struggling to assemble answer, "agreed to pay them with what supplies they wanted from what we recovered."

Though it might seem a possible way of affording mercenaries if low on credits, Peppy could clearly see that it was a foolish method. Paying Mercenaries with equipment risked losing valuable equipment if the mercenary is killed or deserted. However, since it was a foolish method, Peppy could sense that this woman was smart, and someone like her would never consider such actions. She was hiding something, something Peppy couldn't squeeze out of her through word. Standing up, Peppy held out his hand to the canine. The young Labrador took his hand and shook it.

"This concludes our business, miss," said Peppy, rather pleasantly, "I hope we can speak in future."

"Yes...I hope so too," answered Becky, she was surprised their meeting had been this quick.

Peppy quickly spun on his heels to leave, his bodyguard swiftly following him like his shadow. As they wandered towards the exit of this battle scared skyscraper, Peppy's thoughts returned to the meeting, there was something off putting about the Labradors story, like she had been holding something back. Upon boarding his shuttle, Peppy spoke to one of the bodyguards.

"Contact Cornerian Intelligence,' commanded Peppy, "Have them monitor the vigilantes and gather any information on that towers mainframe.

-x-x-x-

The noises of Capital City, the capital of Corneria, roared across the atmosphere. They were something of a blessing for the tired, soaked and beaten vulpine, a reminder of what life used to like, something he took for granted a year ago. The wail of traffic and the sound of pedestrians walking and talking, along with the bright lights from the streets and buildings, made everything for Fox seem...normal.

The vulpine carefully slithered through alleyways and clambered over buildings, doing whatever it took to keep out of the public eye, trying to find a place of shelter. As Fox clambered up the side of a building, his right shoulder plate broke off from his armour. Upon reaching the buildings top, Fox analysed his armour. Despite the advanced assembly upon receiving it, all of his recent experiences had greatly worn down the armour, to a point that it was beginning to fall apart.

"I'll need new clothes," thought Fox, although armour provided better protection, it only worked when in one piece, and such an outfit would grab the attention of many people.

-x-x-x-

Falco was in the Captain's quarters with the canine officer. The quarters consisted of a single bed, with a wardrobe next to it, a small metal footlocker at the foot of the bed, and a small desk parallel to the bed. The Captain was sitting in the desks chair, his eyes were wide, and his mind trying to comprehend what the avian had told him.

"Are you sure that is what you witnessed?" asked the Captain for the third time.

"My whole team saw that thing on the bridge," Falco replied, his voice louder than normal, "What that things was, was responsible for the mascara that occurred on that wreck."

Even the Captain couldn't deny that it was the most logical answer, but it felt almost impossible. After all, how could something like that exist?

"When the General returns from Kew, you are to report this information directly to him. Is that understood?" commanded the Husky.

"Yes sir," replied Falco, he gave the officer a salute, receiving on in return, before leaving the Captain.

-x-x-x-

Fox stood in the pitch black alleyway, with the remains of his destroyed armour discarded across the cold pavement. He had raided a clothes shop for a new outfit, and was forced to quickly change in the alley. His new outfit consisted of a black hooded jacket, over a charcoal grey t-shirt, and a pair of dark blue jeans that were loose around the legs. Fox kept the boots and had removed the various pouches, straps and holsters, stashing them inside an old, tattered duffle bag he found on top of a garbage container in the alley. His rifle was stashed away inside the bag, and he hid his pistol inside his jacket. His credit chips were stashed amongst his various pockets.

The vulpine carefully placed the delicate bag over his shoulder, and pulled the hood over his head, before quietly creeping towards the alley's entrance. With the street completely clear, Fox turned left and walked down the street, looking for a place to rest.

-x-x-x-

A group of five panic struck individuals sprinted down a metal corridor, followed by the sounds of battle. Gunfire, explosions, dying screams, all of it echoed throughout the structure. The group consisted of a bright red vixen, wrapped up in a tattered T-shirt and trousers, with thin metal plates covering her chest, and a small pistol in her hands. A lime green cat wearing a heavily damaged suit of dirty, golden armour, with additional components fitted from the remains of broken equipment. A large golden shield was fitted to his left arm, and he had a short sword in his right hand. Its blade glisten red from the blood smeared across it.

A bright orange wolf wore a plain white shirt that was covered with muck, oil and had been burnt slightly and black tattered trousers over his legs. The broken remains of golden armour, that had been strapped together, covered his clothing. A poorly maintained rifle was in his hands. The fourth figures head was encased in in a helmet and gasmask, and wearing a black jacket over simple body armour, his trousers were dark grey and he wore black leather gloves over his hands. Like the wolf, he carried a rifle that was in a bad condition. The final person was a dark blue vulpine, wearing golden armour that had been scorched, bashed and blasted, with a dirty and tattered white cape covering his back. A golden helmet that was ruined from constant fighting was protecting his head. In his hands, was a Golden Staff, with the head split into three and blue gems decorating the pole.

The group raced through the corridors, regrouping with more of their kind as they withdrew from their attackers. They were retreating to the location of their final stand; it was inside a grand chamber. Unlike the rest of the facility, the walls were of rock, with towering metal supports built into them to support the ceiling and partially covered by plates of metal. The ceiling was completely covered by metal plates, with a dozen lights dangling from it. Three passages were connected to the chamber, with large makeshift barriers surrounding them. In the centre, was a large crystal, the rock had a flat base, with jagged edges that ran up the side of the crystal, creating individual tips at their ends, with top of the rock ending in a sharp point. Finally, the crystal glowed brightly a light blue colour, its light shining across the chamber.

Defending the chamber was the remains of the survivors, all had been routed by their attackers. There was a wide diversity in the species of the Survivors, ranging from mammals to reptiles, to avian's and even aquatic creatures. A majority of the survivors wore Golden Armour, which was ruined by laser burns and cracked from constant conflict. The remainder were dressed in the tattered remains of civilian clothes that had been covered with basic protective equipment, such as a chest guard and a helmet. Weaponry was also mixed; most of the survivors were equipped with golden staffs with colour jewels decorating them, the second most common form of weapon was the short sword. The swords had shining blades, although most of them had been soaked in crimson blood, and golden handles with a single sapphire implanted in the hilt. Finally, the last of the survivors were equipped with poorly repaired firearms.

The blue vulpine looked over his soldiers, if he could even call them that. He and his people had lost their homes and lives to their enemy, who ruthlessly and mercilessly hunted down and exterminated them. Most of his soldiers weren't even soldiers, they nothing but folk who had were forced to hold a weapon and defend their very existence. Since the loss of their home, he had led his people on an endless journey, trying to avoid death, and to find more survivors, including his lost sister, who he hoped had escaped death. The vulpine watched as the number of retreating survivors turned into a trickle, until no more returned, and the sounds of battle had faded.

"Marksmen, take your positions! Swordsmen, form your ranks behind the Marksmen!" bellowed the vulpine in a commanding tone. "We must defend the Soul Stone to the last man!"

The Marksmen took position behind the objects that could provide protection, all those armed with a staff or a gun was a Marksmen. The Swordsmen were equipped with their swords and shields, forming columns of 3, ready to repel their enemy should the Marksmen fail. The vulpine felt his senses tingle, he could feel their presence moving closer, hear their footsteps echo down the passages, and sense their thoughts, all consumed with destruction.

At the end of the middle passage, the vulpine saw the sight of their enemy. They blended into the darkness, with the exception of their glowing red eyes, capable of instilling fear into the strongest of warriors. They were armed with the strange weapons that the survivors had stolen from their dead kin. Without need of command, the Marksmen fired on their enemy. Their staffs' producing bright red sparks, while the others produced projectiles or bright sparks different to the staffs.

Two of their enemy were caught in their barrage and fell, before the rest produced sparks of energy of their own. Five of the survivors marksmen were hit, killed before their corpses hit the ground. A few swordsmen grabbed the weapons of their fallen brothers and sisters. More of their enemy started to appear in the other passages, trying to storm their barricade. By what was believed to be sheer luck, the survivors had been able to defend against their enemy, despite the casualties they took; their enemy had been unable to push through their defences.

The vulpine watched as his brothers and sisters in arms fell in battle, he was standing in front of the Soul Stone, using his staff to fire at the enemy from a distance, constantly switching between the three passages. No matter how many of their enemy died, more of them appeared in their place. Suddenly, there was a roar as a large fire ball erupted in front of the central barrier. The blast ripped apart the barrier, killing the marksmen in position behind it along with a several swords men. Their bloody bodies flung across the air, scattering across the chamber.

The vulpine watched both in horror and in anger as the enemy charged through their weakened defence. The swordsmen swiftly formed ranks, branding their shields in front before charging straight on. Their enemy projected beams of light that were blocked by the swordsmen shields, leaving smoking scorch marks. A few well placed shots avoided the shields, instead bringing down their victims to death, or on the edge of it. The swordsmen that survived bashed their shields against their enemy before striking at them with their swords; some went straight for the chest, trying to pierce the armour, while others tried to hack off the limbs. While the superior armour resisted much of the blows, the enemy struggled in the brutal close range attacks of the swordsmen. Only those from behind them were successful in striking them down. The vulpine readied his staff and leaped into the battle, projecting shots at the enemy before savagely striking at them with the staff.

Suddenly, more explosions appeared on both sides of the chamber, firing more marksmen and what few swordsmen remained away. The vulpine watched in horror as their enemy fired on their exposed flanks and rear, slaughtering many brave fighters from behind. The sudden attack broke apart the surviving defenders, as they scattered into three groups to repel their enemy. This dividing of forces sealed the outcome of the battle. As the swordsmen divided to attack their enemy, their numbers that had allowed them to defend the central passage, were no more. Within moments their enemy successfully eliminated many of the swordsmen, forcing them back to the Soul Stone.

One by one, a survivor dropped to the incoming attack waves of the enemy. The vulpine picked up the sword of a fallen swordsman, wielding it alongside his staff, using the staff to stun them, before using the sword to stab or hack off a limb. The vulpine thrust his staff into the chest of the nearest demon, before slashing across its neck, swiftly beheading his foe. The metal encased head disappeared into the battle, as the headless corpse slumped to the ground. Suddenly, the vulpine felt a sharp pain in his left shoulder, the vulpine looked down to see a small black patch on his fur, just above his armour.

Another pain pierced his side, before another struck his chest armour. The vulpine looked around to see the enemy surround him, at least six of the fowl demons. The vulpine readied himself and swung out with his staff extended, stunning his targets before striking them with his sword, while desperately trying to avoid their own attacks. A sudden shot to the back critically injured the vulpine and sending him to the floor.

The demons immediately turned their attention away from the wounded vulpine, instead going for the Survivors that were still standing. The vulpine winced from the immense pain as he looked to see his comrades be slaughtered without mercy. He stared in horror when he saw the red vixen lying on the ground, clutching her abdominal as red blood leaked over her hand. The vulpine crawled as fast as his wounds would let him; the vixen spotted him and reached out with her hand. Her eyes were glossy and her cheeks were wet with tears.

The vulpine was within touching distance of his beloved vixen, he knew it was over and they needed each other's company. Their fingers were just millimetres apart when a Survivor wielding a staff was gunned down, a red spark erupted from the staff and zipping straight towards the vixen. The vulpine watched in horror as the spark burned into his vixens back, her body going limp and her dead eyes staring back at him.

The shock of watching her die broke the vulpine's heart, blinding him to the world around him, just as the last of the survivors fell. The silence drew him back to reality; he could see the demons casually stepping over the corpses of his fallen allies, checking to see if there were any alive. The vulpine felt the foot of a soldier kick him in the side, forcing him onto his back. The vulpine caught sight of the trooper, holding his weapon by the barrel. With a strong swing, the back of the weapon struck the vulpines head.

-x-x-x-

Fox McCloud pushed the door of basic apartment building on the capitals outskirts open. He could see a small desk next to a set of stairs, on his left were six chairs around a table next a corridor, while on his right were more chairs next to another corridor. The walls were a dirty grey colour and the red carpet underneath his feet was filthy.

Fox approached the desk, where an overweight tan bulldog, wearing a grey t-shirt, smoking a cigarette and reading an issue of Playbunny sat. The dog drew his eyes away from his magazine when he saw Fox approach.

"Need something?" asked the Bulldog, clearly annoyed that he had been drawn away from his entertainment.

"I want a room," spat Fox, pissed off with his attitude.

"Room cost forty credits; rent will be twenty credits a week."

Fox dug through his pockets to gather the needed credits and dropped them on the desk. The dog got up from his seat and plodded over to a cabinet on the back wall. He opened it and pulled out a key ring with a single plastic key card saying; 146. A sign next to the stairs had 51-300 next to an arrow pointing upwards.

It was only fifteen minutes when Fox reached the room marked 146. Using the card, he swiped the card against a sensor beside the door and it slide open. Inside, was a very small room, with a bed that had a bare mattress, with a dirty cover and pillow on top. Opposite the bed was a small table with a chair underneath, and a small window opposite the door. Finally, there was a door on Fox's left.

The vulpine opened the door to see a bathroom, in an appalling state. The tiles on the floor and walls were cracked, and there was grim around the base of the toilet and sink. The shower curtain was only half hanging from the railing and the inside also had grim along the sides.

The disgusted Fox shut the door and dumped his duffle bag on the bed. Its contents spilt out as he walked toward the window; he stared out at the centre of the capital, its gleaming skyscrapers and the amazing lights. But that wasn't what interested the troubled Vulpine.

-x-x-x-

Peppy had arrived back on Corneria, and was rushing through the corridors of the command centre before he was jumped by personal with questions, reports and other pointless paperwork. Officers and personal all tried to salute him but were ignored. Despite his age, Peppy had regained some of his active lifestyle, mainly to get to his office quickly before anyone stopped him.

The old hare opened the door to his office, only to be greeted by Colonel Silvers and Falco, both looks of impatience and anxiety carved into their faces. Silvers' eyes were wide and the muscles on his face were tense. His gloved hands were wrapped into tight fists and his ears flinched constantly. Falco was in a similar state, instead of the cocky, over-confident ace pilot Peppy knew, there was instead a nervous, alert avian that had a feeling of doubt around him.

"Colonel, care to explain..." began the General right before he was interrupted by the lupine.

"Apologies General, but while you were gone, certain events took place."

"What events?"

"A Venom Warship was detected drifting in Cornerian space, so we sent three ships to intercept," explain Silvers at a rapid speed, "Efforts to contact the ship failed, so Captain Lombardi and his team were part of a boarding party on the ship."

Peppy looked over at the strangely silent Falco, he eyes had been glancing between him and the Colonel but he had not yet spoken. Normally Falco would normally be boasting about such a deed, but why he was so quiet, was very worrying.

"Upon making contact with the crew, they discovered everyone had been slaughtered by an unknown threat,"

"Explain by unknown threat, Colonel," demanded Peppy, Silvers sighed and gripped the back of his neck with his left hand then letting it go.

"According to the reports," began Silvers, speaking more slowly, "All crew had been sliced part, literally, with no bodies or signs of an attacker. Except..."

"Except...what?"inquired Peppy, greatly annoyed that as one the highest ranking officer in the Cornerian Defence Force, he was being left out of the loop. A Venom Warship with a butchered crew had been detected, and none of his officers were willing to explain the details. Silvers sighed again before pointing over at Falco.

"Falco," boomed Peppy, the avian looked eyes with the aging hare, "What happened on that ship?" Falco eyes drifted away from Peppy to the wall opposite him, locked in a glare into deep space.

"We had travelled along the ship to the bridge: where it looked like it had been the last stand. Inside the bridge, above the door was a message."

Peppy remained silent, his mind fully focused on receiving and understanding the information he was being presented with.

"The message was written in blood, it said _RUN_. Next I find an officer bleeding over a working console. Only I discover that the ships self destruct had been activated and..."

Falco froze midsentence; the words needed to describe what had happened had deserted him. The traumatic recollection of that encounter on the bridge was fixed in his mind, refusing to leave.

"Falco!" the demanding tone of Peppy's voice brought him back, "What happened?"

Falco shut his eyes and took a deep breath.

-x-x-x-

Doctor Eden looked over his fellow founders; all had been summoned for another emergency meeting. Normally these meetings were of how the situation for the 'Grand Plan' had experienced any great changes, beneficial or not. The council room had dark grey walls, with bright white horizontal lights along the walls. In the middle, was a polished black circular table, three meters in diameter. In the middle, was a small triangular pyramid device, was a neon blue light on each face and a larger one at the top point. Ten seats sat around it with a small console in front, but only six of them were occupied.

On his right, was Admiral Siege. A war veteran from the Lylat Wars, he had achieved an outstanding reputation when he was a Commander, for successfully leading a battle scarred fleet in a counterattack after the remaining senior officers above him were killed off. Andross rewarded him a great promotion up to Admiral, but by then the war was at the end.

Next to the Admiral, was General Stone. Stone was also a veteran from the war, where he was a field Brigadier for a Special Forces unit, where his tactical brilliance combined with the unit's skill earned him many victories. That changed when he was wounded on Fichina and declared unfit for battle. However as a reward for his actions, Andross saw to it that he would be promoted to General.

Opposite the Doctor, was Gregory 'Greaser' Jones. A dark brown monkey wearing a pale blue jumpsuit that was filthy from grease and oil stains, and a pair of tinted goggles resting on messy head. Greaser was Ghost Company's chief engineer, being responsible for designing, manufacturing and enhancing equipment for the unit, along with researching and analysing new bits of technology to serve Ghost Company. The Doctor shared a bitter rivalry with Greaser, mainly due to Greaser favouring the use of machines instead of unique biological creations for war.

On Greaser's left, sat a hologram of Jonathan Pierce, a charcoal grey feline and the unit's chief supplier of experimental military grade equipment. Pierce owned one of the largest arms manufacturing companies in Lylat, from basic security equipment to powerful military weapons, vehicles and the like. In the Public eye, Pierce's most famous contract was chief supplier of the Cornerian Defence Force. This worked to the advantage of Ghost Company; system laws forbid extreme development of weapons without Cornerian consent. So as their primary supplier, Pierce was able to develop more powerful equipment for Ghost Company, under the guise of developing it for Corneria.

Finally, next to Pierce, was Ghost Company's spec ops agent, known as Phantom. Phantom was a silvery grey vulpine, with thick hair that covered but the thickest of scars across his face. His body was encased in a set of, aside for the number of scratches, well maintained combat armour that was personalised to suit him. A bandolier ran from his left shoulder to his right hip, a plaudron rest on his right shoulder, the armour on his forearms continued past the joint of his elbows, and a number of pouches ran along his hips. Very little about Phantom was known, including his name, what was known that he was originally a mercenary hired by Andross, used for assassination, espionage and sabotage. Apparently, he enjoyed working for Andross and enlisted into the Venom military, becoming a highly feared and well respected field agent.

Everyone was impatient, due to two missing Founders; one was a spy in the ranks of the Cornerian Military, who would not be attending the meeting. The other was a Field Colonel, who had joined Venom before the start of the Lylat wars. Originally, the Colonel originated from a tribe that lived on Venom. The tribes united to wage war with Venom Forces, but surrendered after much of their number were slaughtered.

However, the Colonel was unwilling to accept defeat; he murdered the war council and mascaraed many tribals and soldiers, before he was taken prisoner. His ferocity impressed Andross and offered him a place in his Military. While bitter for their defeat, he accepted upon viewing Venom as a force of power. Although his feats weren't as great as those of General Stone or Admiral Siege, he had successfully carved out a reputation.

"When will we begin this fucking meeting?" demanded Pierce, "I am taking a great risk here."

"We will begin when the last of us has arrived," shouted Stone, "And Pierce, I do believe our spy in the Cornerian Military is in far greater danger than you."

As if on cue, the door to the council room hissed open as it rose, revealing the last member for the meeting. The Colonel's entire body was covered with thick brown strands of hair. A pair of black pincers stuck out to reveal the location of his mouth, and above, two pairs of pitch black eye on top of each other, with another pair of eyes on each side of the bottom pair, giving a total of eight eyes.

He wore a black officer dress uniform, consisting of black shirt, with a black jacket lined with red trim. Black trousers covered his legs until they reached his polished shoes. His jacket and shirt had three pairs of sleeves going down them. Each one covered a hairy arm, leaving only the hands visible. The top and middle pairs of arms dangled loosely at his sides, while the bottom pair was behind his back.

"Ah, Colonel Arachnid, so good you could finally join us," greeted Siege.

"Apologies, my friends," began Arachnid, his voice was slightly high pitched and his pincers clicked as he spoke. He casually walked to the seat next to Greaser, bringing his bottom left arm to pull it away. "I was busy with tracking down those savages."

"You can fill us in on the details latter, but first more important business," announced Stone, he pressed a few buttons on the terminal in front, and a small hologram of Fox McCloud appeared in the centre of the table.

"As you're all aware, Fox McCloud is our primary concern. He escaped our hidden research facility on Venom and has begun a campaign of vengeance against us. Resulting it the deaths of fellow founders Max Nova, and Captain Vander." Briefed Stone, "Admittedly however, this is also partially our fault. Fox McCloud was a prisoner who we ourselves put forward for the 'Super Soldier Experimentation' Program. Despite the Programs failure, Fox McCloud was able to benefit in the form of several mutations that have devastating effects in the field."

"If I may speak Stone," interrupted Eden, "Even though the only stable subject this program produced is loose, I believe McCloud's DNA might hold the key to producing the super soldiers we need."

"I think Eden, that you have done enough damage with your 'mad experiments'," hissed Greaser, his voice was high pitched and a slight hiss to pronunciation, Eden sent death glares at Greaser. "I say, instead of using unpredictable creatures, we use machines. I have already developed suitable prosthetics and internal support systems to make wounded soldiers fit for duty. And I have been studying the subjects we captured during the conflict, and already I have designed new, more advanced prosthetics and cybernetic enhancements."

"So you want to use cyborgs to fulfil the Super Soldier Program?" inquired Siege.

"In a way, yes," replied Greaser with a wide grin.

"We will return to your offer later," announced Arachnid, "Now I would like to return to our primary issue McCloud."

"Agreed," Boomed Stone, "as you know, Vander's ship, _The Dark Sun_, was destroyed in Cornerian orbit. While no reports of any escape pods have been revealed, no doubt that McCloud is alive and on Corneria."

"Then I am in grave danger," Pierce spoke up, "If that asshole McCloud has gotten hold of any data from Vander or Nova, he will most likely identify and come after me next."

"Then we'll need to do away with McCloud before that happens," proposed Phantom, "I'll prepare ready for the hunt."

"No, Phantom," declared Siege firmly, Phantom stared at him agape, "You are not to hunt McCloud."

"You forget Siege," replied Phantom in a calm tone," I was Andross' favourite agent and still am the best in best in his military."

"Even your skills might not be able to handle the unpredictable behaviour of an abomination such as McCloud, and you will be required for operations in future," stated Stone. Phantom was visibly offended.

"Then what the fuck should we do then?" yelled Eden.

"What about the seekers?" proposed Greaser, Phantom stared at him in disgust.

"SEEKERS! THAT'S YOUR IDEA!? IT'S PATHETIC!" roared the enraged assassin, "They only see the hunt through calculations and fixed planning, never adapting or taking pleasure in it. THEY ARE USELESS!"

"Silence Phantom," demanded Arachnid, the angered vulpine glared at him, "I agree with Greaser, the Seekers should be able to eliminate McCloud. Provided Greaser equips them with effective equipment, of course."

"Oh, don't worry, I will," replied Greaser with a wider grin than before.

"Then that's it settled, we'll send some of the Seekers after Fox," concluded Stone, while they didn't say it, both Eden and Phantom were visibly angered.

"In the meantime, Pierce," suggested Siege, "I would hire some more protection."

"I think I now who," replied Pierce with a fiendish smile.

-x-x-x-

Peppy was trapped in his office, with his head resting in his hands. He was tired, all day something had been reported, including the recent recovery of an empty escape pod that had sunk, nearly a week after the warship incident. Outside, were personal trying to keep him informed with everything that happened. Though it was beneficial to know as much about a situation as possible, it was very stressful and very tiring for the old hare.

A sudden knock on door the forced him to lift his head, before Colonel Silvers and white/light-grey female husky entered his office. Despite not being given permission to enter, Peppy was too exhausted to enforce discipline anymore.

"What is it Colonel?" he asked, his voice weary.

"General, CI Agents have been able to recover this from the database at Nova-Corp tower," answered the Colonel rapidly.

The Husky showed the old hare a data disc, and he tilted his head to the computer on his desk. It took barely three minutes before a video clip was on screen.

"This was the only recording of the battle at the tower we could get, it cuts out at the end but there is something you need to see what happens, General," the Husky briefed him as she pressed play.

The video show a dozen thugs on a balcony, shooting at something off screen in the bottom left corner, where returning fire originated. Suddenly, a severed corpse flew into the recording, followed by a dashing orange blur that proceeded to rip apart the thugs one by one in quick succession, just before the video broke into static.

"Rewind it! Right before it cuts off!" commanded the shocked General.

The Husky did as commanded, returning the clip to before it was cut off, and froze the frame. Peppy leaned to look at the orange blur; very little detail could be seen, except what appeared to be bright red eyes.

"What the hell is that?" asked Peppy, in a demanding tone, while pointing at the blur.

"Not a fucking clue sir," answered Silvers, "but based on the description of what took place on the warship, I would guess that they are somehow connected."

Peppy just stared agape.

-x-x-x-

It was nearly midnight, as Fox was searching through all the stolen data for his next target. During the week, he had stolen a variety of supplies for himself, although he did leave the required credits to pay behind. He had taken a basic laptop to analyse the data, along with food. Two new weapons in the form of another pistol and shotgun complete with ammunition. Finally he had taken a set of tools and chemicals to make several explosives.

The vulpine continued to comb through the various bits of data, analysing each piece by piece, hoping to find something to catch his eye. Eventually, success arose upon selecting a message to Nova.

_Nova,_

_You need to keep your pirates under control. I had sent a shipment of weapons sent for Vander to collect. Only for your pirates to attack and raid the entire supply ship. The other Founders are fuming over this; there is no way your thugs will be getting their new shipment. Especially considering they stole the weapons that were to be modified for their use._

_I thought that Eden had brainwashed those retards into doing everything you said. If you can't control them, then they'll have to be put down._

_Jonathan Pierce._

Jonathan Pierce. It was a name that was very familiar to Fox. It only hit when he notice the small title in the top right corner; Star-Tech Industries, the chief supplier of security and military grade equipment in Lylat. The Company's CEO, was a founder and member of Ghost Company.

Fox clenched his teeth together. How well had Ghost Company integrated itself the very society of Lylat? Shutting down the laptop, Fox walked towards his bed and threw himself on top. Tomorrow night, he was going send a message to Ghost Company, no matter whom or what they were, they would die, one way or the other.

-x-x-x-

Wolf O'Donnell sat in the control centre of Sargasso Space Station, cursing to himself. Upon hearing the news of Fox McCloud's death over a year ago, he felt strange, even though he would have loved to have been the one to kill him, he couldn't ignore the respect he had for him. Leon and Panther didn't care about the dead, Leon cared about nothing except causing pain, and Panther had been attempting to get Krystal spread across his bed, despite her pain.

Out of respect for Fox's memory, Wolf agreed to a deal to offer as little trouble for Star Falco as reality could go.

"Excuse me, Lord O'Donnell," said a nervous red ape.

"What?" growled the Lupine in his usual threatening tone.

"Uh..." gulped the ape, "it appears someone has a job for us, very good pay."

"How much?" asked Wolf.

"Fifty thousand credits a night."

"A night?"

"Yes it appears this person has been receiving death threats and would like the extra security."

"Who's the client?"

"Jonathan Pierce, of Star-Tech Industries."

Wolf's eyes widened upon hearing those words. If Pierce was desperate for protection, he might be able to earn some more powerful equipment.

"Tell him we'll do and get Leon and Panther here, now. We need to leave soon." he commanded.

-x-x-x-

Krystal and Katt were sitting outside their favourite coffee shop. They liked to meet up and talk about various things, such as life, fashion and their boyfriends. Now though, they hardly ever did these things, and to Katt, it was clear why. Krystal wasn't herself since her loss. She had lost everything before she met Fox, and even though there had been rocky patches, he was everything to her. Now he was gone, there was nothing in her life, and she struggled to move on.

"So Krystal," said Katt, "How's the flight instructor job going?"

"So-so," replied Krystal, "Most of my pilots struggle so they're moved around."

There was another silence as they sipped their coffee.

"How's the new team?" asked Krystal.

"There doing very well," replied Katt, being careful not to reveal too much about the warship incident. "Problem is though; we're not getting a lot of pay, so we can't afford a carrier for those long missions."

"Well, I'm sure something will turn up."

"Actually, Falco received a job offer for security for the CEO of Star-Tech Industries. So he wants to negotiate getting hold of carrier ship at last. Hey, why don't you come along? It would be nice to work together."

"Sure," replied Krystal, unenthusiastically.

"Great," said Katt pretending to not hear the unenthusiastic tone. "I'll let Falco know."

-x-x-x-

Fox walked through the soaking wet streets of Capital City as heavy rain down poured all around him. The hood of his jacket reduced much of reflected light off the drenched surfaces from illuminating his face. On his back was his duffle bag, loaded with the explosives, ammo and guns he would use. His pistols were in holsters fitted onto his belt.

Ahead, was the building he wanted. In front of him was a five story high building with and extended layout that was high as the second story. On the front of the building, was a sign with a bright blue star, with Star-Tech Industries.

Fox began plotting his attack, tonight the third Founder was going to die, and he would be a step closer to completing his revenge.

**Ok I KNOW there has been a long wait but a load of shit has happened and since this Chapter was a pain, I struggled to cope. Anyway, if you were expecting something brilliant I am sorry for your disappointment.**


	10. A Dark Night

Krystal was waiting in the lobby of Star-Tech Industries Head Quarters with the Star Falco team. The lobby's entrance consisted of two pairs of sliding glass doors. Against the back wall was the pristine white reception desk, the desk curved towards the wall, leaving gaps between the wall and the desk. On the wall behind the desk, in neon blue writing, was _Star-Tech Industries_. On both sides of the room, were two rows of five navy blue chairs each. In the two corners nearest the door, were small black stands with two potted plants on top.

There was a very uncomfortable atmosphere for Krystal, it wasn't because it was her first time in the field since she lost Fox, nor the intimidating security guards, but the presence of the Star Wolf team, of him was driving her mad. When she saw the team she was shocked to discover she would be working with them. Upon their meeting, Leon had wasted no time in mocking the team over Fox's loss, however, it been aimed mainly at Falco, instead of her, but was just as painful. Panther was worse, immediately he approached her, attempting to flirt and achieve a date with her, expressing sorrow for her loss.

Krystal knew better however, not only was that not his character, but her telepathy revealed that he was fantasying about her spread naked across his bed, begging like a horny bimbo. It took all her strength to stop herself from lashing out at him. When they had a 'relationship', all Panther got was to look, not touch and demanded her privacy from him with promises of false rewards. She might have done it to spite Fox, but even she wasn't willing to go that far.

Fortunately, and surprisingly, Wolf stepped in and pulled Panther away from her, sending him to the far side of the room as if he were a misbehaving child. She was even more surprised when he apologised for his behaviour, and was sorry for her loss. At first, Krystal struggled to believe him, but he was honest and sincere, shining a new light on Wolf.

Katt had kept close by to help protect her from the perverted monster and the psychopath. Her presence assured Krystal that she would be here to help. Krystal had met Miyu and Fay before, and got on really well with them, and was looking forward to working with them. But the great white however, was slightly intimidating. Despite Lylat being only just aware of aquatic life since the Angular attack, she had seen their kind before, on Cerinia there had been a few aquatic species. But even then they were rare.

-x-x-x-

Falco's glare was constantly switching between the charcoal grey feline sitting behind the exotic white desk in front of him, and mercenary lupine standing beside him. When he took the job, the last thing he expected was to see the Star Wolf team, only to discover, he would be working with them. Resulting in this argument:

"Gentlemen," Pierce attempting to reason with the mercenaries, "I am fully aware of your rivalry, but you see, I don't care. My life is at stake, and I have hired you both and a vast number of mercenaries because I want this assassin dead."

"If you actually valued your life, you wouldn't have hired both of us," stated Wolf, almost in a mocking tone. "My team would actually prefer to fight this bird's team than work with them."

"Feelings mutual," replied Falco.

"I'm not going to pay you to fight each other, either you put your shit to one side, or fuck off," yelled Pierce. He was taking a gamble; Fox was out there, possibly stalking the streets right now looking for him, and needed these two teams for defence. Though it would be impossible for them to kill him, he would wipe both teams out within an instant. But their rivalry was destroying his plan, yet they were still mercenaries, desperate mercenaries.

"Fine," spat Wolf, before storming out the office door. Falco cast a glance at Pierce; he still wanted to make a deal with the feline.

"If I'm going to work with those dickheads, I want to get a better deal," announced Falco, the charcoal felines green eyes just stared at him with a blank expression.

"In what way?" queried the cat.

"A ship. Specifically a carrier ship," bartered Falco.

"Well then, if that's what I need to pay you to work with Star Wolf, so be it," said the feline; Falco was completely surprised by Pierces sudden agreement.

"I will add that to your payment, you will receive it when I feel that I am safe, agreed?" asked Pierce.

Falco nodded in agreement. The feline was now grinning from ear to ear, the grin was unnerving for Falco, it was the grin of a madman. Common sense quickly told Falco not to comment and just leave.

As soon as the avian stepped out of the office, he was by stopped Wolf O'Donnell leaning beside the door, with his arms crossed and left foot against the wall. The Lupine gave Falco a fierce glare, his one good eye refusing to blink. Despite the threatening look, Falco felt the Wolf was judging him. Falco calmly turned away from Wolf to leave.

"How you aren't dead is a bloody miracle," Falco heard Wolf comment. The offended Avian spun round to meet to lupine.

"What?" Falco said in reply.

"I said it's a surprise you're still breathing," spat Wolf in a much louder tone than before. "You and your team."

"And yet we've defeated you in the past," countered Falco, feeling smug.

"Star Fox defeated us, not Star Falco," corrected Wolf. "You just don't see it."

"What does that mean?"

"Just think for once in your fucking life!" growled an impatient Wolf. "Why would a multi-millionaire CEO of one of Lylat's most successful businesses hire a load of mercenaries for security? Most of the mercs here don't have a reputation and there will be rivalries that need to be dealt with."

"If something seems off, why are you still here?" stated Falco, highlighting Wolf's presence.

"Simple, even though I don't trust him, the payment is too good to turn down," said Wolf, spoken like a true mercenary.

-x-x-x-

When confident he was alone in the safety of his office, Pierce activated the secret communications program in his terminal. Within seconds, the image of Colonel Arachnid's eight eyed head appeared on screen.

"Ah, greetings Pierce," said the spider, as his pincers clicked, "To what do I owe this pleasure?"

"Well Colonel, not only did I get two rival teams of mercs to operate together, but ensure that our enemies are in Fox's line of attack," the feline chuckled at his victory guaranteed scheme.

"Don't let your confidence by your downfall Pierce, how can you be positive that Fox will strike down our enemies?" inquired Arachnid.

"You have seen the recordings of when he escaped, the man's a monster in battle, only capable of slaughter and destruction, some of Greaser's creations were ineffective, no wonder Eden's wants that power."

"But remember, Nova wasted nearly all of his thugs against him, and Vander was struck down with an entire regiment of marines at his side, McCloud isn't a push over. Even if your plan works, you will share their fate if something fails."

"True, but I still have a few aces up my sleeve."

-x-x-x-

Fox was crouched next to one of the buildings air vents on the highest roof on the building, with the wind howling around him, setting the fourth and final bomb to distract and devastate security. Heavy rain continued to poor, soaking the vulpine through his wet clothes, as the thunder roared and lighting flashed. With his final explosive in place, the vulpine backed away to his duffle bag by the corner nearest the bomb. Fox pulled out a makeshift detonator, the vulpine silently thanked Slippy for teaching him how to make his own explosives, Fox had no interest in learning such skills, he only learnt it because Peppy forced him 'and' tested him to make sure he wouldn't slack off.

'_When you're trapped against the enemy, you will be glad when you realise you can make your own bombs.'_ Fox didn't believe him. Oh the irony.

-x-x-x-

Krystal walked down another bland corridor, with only a long window to view the on-going storm, as part of her patrol, laser carbine in hand. This was ridicules, they were protecting a business man, yet the level of security he had was similar to that of a Politician, maybe even beyond that. To Krystal, there was something wrong, and the security guards and mercenaries around her weren't helping.

They were difficult to read, the most she could get with her powers were basic emotions, like a dark aura. Never before had she experienced something like this, they were able to block her telepathy, all of them, one person who could was rare, two was a coincidence, but this many altogether was impossible, something was going on, and she needed to know.

"Well hello, Miss Krystal," purred a horrid voice. Krystal spun round in shock to see Panther standing right behind her. She was caught up in her thoughts she didn't sense him.

"What do you want Panther?" Krystal spat in a harsh tone.

"Can't Panther just talk to something as beautiful as you?" Panther asked innocently, with a creepy smirk.

"I've got a job to do, and so do you."

"Panther has a better idea, why don't we go out and have fun by ourselves."

Krystal knew what he meant. She could feel his eyes resting on her cleavage.

"Hey! You two!" Krystal was thankful to have this moment interrupted.

Approaching them were two security guards, although at a glance, their equipment would say otherwise. Both wore silvery-white combat armour with a black underlay and blue lining. The Star-Tech logo was placed on the left breast, with 'security' written underneath in blue letters. On their hips, was a holstered pistol each and in their hands were laser rifles. The tallest was a golden jaguar, and the other was a light brown weasel.

"Do you mind?" hissed Panther, "We were having a conversation."

"You're getting paid for security, not flirting," the jaguar pointed at Panther in a threatening manner. Krystal felt sick at the idea.

"What we do together is none of your business!" Krystal wanted to slap Panther so much.

"It is when…"

**BOOM!**

Everyone dropped to the floor as the corridor behind the guards was consumed by a bright orange, scorching hot fireball. Glass from the window and light bulbs shattered and scattered everywhere in tiny and large fragments, Krystal shielded her face with her arms. The explosion was ringing in her ears, drowning out any other sound. Soon the ringing subsided, and was instead replaced by howling wind, rain falling, the slight crack of flame and the wail of an emergency siren.

Krystal moved her arms away to see what was before her. The only light came from flashing red lights as the siren wailed. To her right, a hole interrupted the wall, the window completely shattered. Panther was slowly ascending to his feet, while the security guards remained still. The shaken vixen crawled towards the weasel; the back of the pristine white armour was now smoky grey with red specks. She moved closer to see a large shard of glass buried in the back of his neck, blood leaking heavily from the wound.

Krystal stood up and moved away from the dead weasel to the jaguar. Like the weasel, the back of his armour was smoky grey. No visible injuries could be seen. Gently, Krystal lifted the guards head and placed her finger on his neck. His pulse was rapidly pounding.

"What are you doing?" asked Panther greatly annoyed.

"He's alive, but he needs help," Krystal stated.

"Leave him, he's fucked anyway!"

The horrified vixen glared at the heartless feline.

-x-x-x-

A dark brown lizard, a pale grey crocodile and silver gorilla, wearing Star-Tech security armour and armed with their laser rifles, analysed the scene before them. The ceiling had been blown apart, bits of scrap metal, shattered glass and burning fragments littered the floor, and the pristine walls scorched a horrid brown from the heat.

The group spied the hole in the ceiling, thick black smoke obstructing much their view, but the shattered edges of air vent were visible if one looked hard enough. Rain droplets fell through the ceiling as if it was bleeding. Suddenly, a shadow engulfed figure emerged from the smoke. Its left arm replaced with a curved blade nearly twice the normal size of the limb. A pair of two handed weapons was behind its back.

The figure stabbed the gorilla through the chest, quickly drawing his pistol and firing three shots at the crocodile. As the crocodile stumbled backwards, the lizard fired against their attacker. A barrage of bright blue lasers, struck both the figure and gorillas corpse. The figure growled in pain, throwing the body it had been using as a shield aside, and jumped towards lizard. The lizard unleashed a continuous burst of laser fire as the gap between them diminished. The creature forced the guard to the ground, before thrusting its bladed arm through his throat, bringing the guards life to an abrupt painful end.

Fox slowly stood off the corpse of his newest victim. His bladed arm returning to its normal form. Carefully, Fox brought his hand to his chest, before instantly removing in upon contact. Pain erupted from his chest at the slightest touch, his jacket and charcoal grey shirt had burn marks decorating the fabric.

The pain from the lasers burns were beyond unbearable, worse than his detainment in the facility, worse than the unethical experiments that made him what he was. Fox grit his teeth as he forced his body to ignore the pain as he moved. He looked down at the rifle that the lizard had used against him. Its design shared some features from a blaster rifle, but heavily morphed into something nearly unrecognisable.

"All security personal," Fox spun round to see the downed croc wheezing into a wrist mounted communicator. Fox reached for the carbine on his back to shoot the weak guard. "Hostile intrusion. Repeat hostile in…AHH!"

-x-x-x-

Falco readied his rifle, his breathing steady, his mind focused. He hadn't expected this assassin strike on his first shift, and the explosions had caught him by complete surprise. But then again, Pierce had been receiving death threats for a while, so the last thing they would be expecting was to encounter was Star Falco, and Star Wolf. Falco grabbed the communicator on his belt and brought it to his mouth.

"Star Falco, assemble at my coordinates."

-x-x-x-

Fox sprinted down the short corridor to the five man team taken shots at him, his own rifle in his right hand returned a wild spread of fire, his hood flapped lightly as he ran. Fox would be lucky if one shot hit one of these grunts, but then again his shooting was more of a distraction. Three of the guards began slowly step away as the vulpine closed in.

"FOR ANDROSS!" one guard yelled. Fox snapped as those words reached his ears, if they were willing to die in the name of Andross, he would gladly answer their wishes. He gave a menacing grin as he allowed pain of his lefts arms transformation wash over him.

At the distance between Fox and the guards was now roughly a meter. With a clear as possible aim of a guards head, a red-orange monkey, Fox pulled the trigger. A continuous stream of laser fire brought the monkey down, turning their head into a smouldering pile of gooey flesh. Immediately after, the guard left of Fox felt the sharp edge of his blade tear through their armour and ripping their flesh underneath. Blood flew from the wound as the guard was sent spinning into the floor.

Fox resumed fire on the other three; the guards broke apart to avoid it. But once again, Fox was able to close the distance between them almost instantly. The central guard was severed in two by Fox's blade as tore across the top of his hips. The guard wailed and cried in pain as the top half flew backwards, while his legs fell to the floor. The horrified guards were barely able to comprehend what was happening, allowing Fox to impale the guard on his right through the chest with his with his blade, imbedding it in the wall behind him. Before turning his head to fire his laser rifle at the final guard.

Fox watched as the guard fell back against the wall, he could feel the blood of the other guard trickling down his arm. The vulpine looked to see blood leaking out of his wound, staining the pristine white armour. With a swift trust, Fox ripped his sword arm from the wall and guard. Suddenly, Fox felt a burning pain in his left hand forcing him to drop his rifle. Fox looked to see the back of his hand had a large burnt patch, emitting a thin trail of smoke.

Fox looked to see roughly ten guards standing in front of pair of large doors, all were aiming their weapons at the vulpine. Fox noticed a lack of consistency amongst their equipment; four of them were wearing standard security armour, while the rest lacked any form of uniformity. A dirty brown rabbit, wearing Star-Tech security armour, stepped from the crowd

"Well, look at what we've here boys," the rabbit boldly stated, "Fox McCloud."

Fox just snarled in response.

"We're gonna be famous in Ghost Company boys," hissed the Rabbit with glee.

"I'm sure you will be," Fox responded with a wicked and insane grin, "You'll be known as worst soldiers for threatening your greatest enemy, rather than shooting him when you had the chance."

"Correction, we disarmed you, and our kit got an overhaul," the rabbit replied. Fox laughed.

"I'm guessing no-one's told you," said Fox raising his hands as changed into their claw form, silently boasting his abilities, "I'm a walking arsenal."

-x-x-x-

Peppy sat in his office, watching the security recording from Kew. The orange blur at the end, tearing apart its victims in the most brutal of ways terrified him. Worse, it matched the description of what had been witnessed on the destroyed warship, and the wrecked escape pod that had been found, caused him even more worry. Fierce banging on his office door startled him, derailing his train of thought.

"Enter."

Colonel Silvers entered, slightly out of breath, saluting towards his superior, Peppy returned the gesture. The old hare was clearly expecting more bad news, because it seemed it was all Silvers had for him.

"General, explosions have been reported from the Star-Tech Industries Head-Quarters, and there have been reports of gunfire and casualties. Terrorist attack I fear." Said the Colonel, slightly panting.

Peppy instantly stood up from his desk. "Have whatever security forces in that area surround the building and secure the area! Assemble support forces and have them deployed, nothing leaves that facility! I will be overseeing this myself!"

Silvers opened his mouth to object. "Don't waste your breath, Colonel. I will not let this go to someone else until I am satisfied with the situation."

-x-x-x-

Pierce nervously paced up and down his office, McCloud had arrived. It was lucky he had both Star Falco and Star Wolf under the same roof, ready to be struck down, but he had been caught unaware, believing he had more time when none existed.

The door of his office hissed open to allow five security guards in. Pierce could clearly see they were anxious about something. A bright red fox, Pierce assumed to be the team leader, stepped forward.

"Sir, we've lost contact with the teams securing the laboratories," the vulpines voice trembled slightly.

"What was in the labs?" Pierce dared to ask, most of the laboratories in the building didn't officially exist. The few that did were for top secret 'experimental developments' for Corneria.

"Weapons Development, Sir, from 'those' labs," the vulpine replied. Pierce's heart froze with fear, if contact with the teams guarding some experimental weapons for Ghost Company had been lost, then it probably meant that McCloud had got to them, and worse, the weapons they had been developing had fallen into their enemies hands.

"Sir, we need to get you out of here."

"Hold on, McCloud wouldn't know what he has come across, try to contain him. I'll leave once he's secure, and if not, then we can use 'them' to buy us sometime."

-x-x-x-

Star Falco were ascending a stairwell, trying to intercept the hostile. Whoever this hostile was, they were moving through the building at an alarming rate, all security teams that reported encountering the hostile lost contact. Falco was almost certain they were here for Pierce, but their actions lead him to think otherwise. Instead of sneaking, they had blown several holes into the building, openly attacked security and were moving around seemingly without any thought of where they going, as if they were only here to cause chaos.

Falco's train of thought came to an abrupt end; Katt was shaking him lightly, while pointing down a corridor. Falco stared wide eyed at the scene before his eyes, illuminated by the flashing red warning lights. The severed remains of five bodies littered the passage, large puddles of crimson blood surrounding them. The walls bore the marks of laser burns, all of it painted a very familiar scene for the whole team, one they had hoped never to see again.

"It can't be," Miyu whispered, "It can't be."

Jaws seemed to be the least phased by the sight. Slowly he walked towards the nearest corpse of a pale grey warthog, whose right arm had been cut off half way between his shoulder and elbow. The Great White grabbed the hogs severed arm and examined the cut.

"Relatively clean cut along the flesh and through the bone," muttered the sea creature as he dabbed to fingers against the blood oozing from the arm, before bringing them to his nose to sniff the substance, "Fresh, yet a foul scent. Unnatural for such a fresh kill."

"You know we have encountered these kills before, or did you forget the warship," spat Katt in annoyance.

"Exactly my point, feline," Jaws replied in his cold stoic voice. Before he could explain, the corridor was filled with a voice on the speakers.

"Attention! Lockdown Procedures have begun in Research and Development! All security personal are to secure the area."

-x-x-x-

Krystal and Panther were following a security team to reach Research and Development. The guards had been rather short and blunt in their explanation for why a lockdown had been called. Apparently, the hostiles had navigated their through the building, from the top to Research and Development, at the back of the facility. How they had managed it, the guards didn't know, or more likely, didn't want to share.

Krystal had become even more suspicious of the guards; she could sense they were hiding something, something important. However, all of her efforts to probe their minds had been futile, like it had always been, even in a stressful situation such as this.

The sound of laser fire and shouting through wailing sirens caught Krystal nearly unprepared. The guards in front broke into a sprint, with them following close behind. The group arrived at the one of the lockdown gates, to see security shooting down a passage to the right, where Krystal assumed, was the hostiles. Krystal watched as a guard was hit in the chest by a bright red laser spark, orange sparks flew away as a small explosion erupted from the guard as he flew back into the ground.

The deafening shriek of metal rubbing against metal, and the loud hiss of hydraulics, prevented Krystal from comprehending her surroundings. Once it silenced, Krystal scanned her location. She was no longer in another of those corridors; instead it appeared to be some type of administrative block. Solid metal walls that came up to above her eyes, divided the room into roughly two dozen cubicles.

Opposite the cubicles, was large bright grey metal door, pristine yellow and black hazard markings could be easily identified around the edges and what appeared to be some form of locking mechanism in the centre. Krystal stared at the door in disbelief; it looked like something that was used on star ships to protect the crew in case of a breach in the hull.

A pair of guards were carrying the away the guard, a raccoon, that she had seen get shot. A small hole in his armour right upon his chest, glowing bright orange as if the armour had melted, if it wasn't for the wounds entry glowing, Krystal was almost certain she would be able to see through the guard.

"Don't worry, Miss Krystal," oozed a slimy voice, "Panther will protect from these assassins."

The blue vixen rolled her eyes in annoyance at Panther's flirting and stupidity.

"How can you be so ignorant?" she responded with a low growl. Panther raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Look around, doesn't anything seem off to you?" muttering in a quiet tone.

"Explain by off?" Krystal was tempted to lash out at the feline for his stupidity.

"Guards and mercenaries armed with equipment that would put the Cornerian Military to shame, a security door that looks like it is from a warship, over the top security for a CEO, and hostiles that are tearing this place apart," Krystal hissed in a quiet yet spiteful voice, "Is that what you could can consider normal?"

Panther just rolled his eyes, at her and walked down the passage between the cubicles. "You're hot when you think. But don't worry, if you think something's wrong, Panther will protect you."

Krystal tensed up at the repulsing idea, the sooner this job was done, the better. Ignoring the guards who were scurrying about, she searched for the guard that got shot. She found the corpse lying on a desk in a cubical on her right, halfway across the room. Brown lifeless eyes staring back at her. The vixen approached the corpse, before gently closing the raccoon's eyes. Her gaze flew towards the chest wound, the deformed metal ring surrounded the where the shot had entered.

**BOOM**

Krystal jumped away from the body and fell to the floor, her mind trying to comprehend what had happened. The vixen picked up her laser carbine that had landed beside her and scrambled to feet. She looked towards the security hatch. The orange glow of fire could be seen from where part of the locking mechanism had been, now replaced with partially exposed interior workings. The edge of the door and part of the wall had been deformed. Krystal could have sworn that some of the locks that the hatch used to secure itself to the wall had dislodged or broken completely. Wisps of black smoke poured from the exposed mechanics.

Security guards shouted back and forth in a panic. "WHAT THE…?"

"WHAT THE FUCK WAS IN THERE, WARSHIP MUNITIONS?"

"DEFENSIVE POSIST…"

**BOOM**

Another explosion wrecked the already damage security door, ripping it from its position. Krystal's ears were ringing from the explosion, the vixen nearly jumped as a hand grabbed her shoulder. The vixens stomach immediately became queasy when she realised it belonged to Panther. The passage way behind it was consumed with flames, thick smoke started to fill the room. Guards quickly attempted to secure the entrance. Panther charged forward, as Krystal deactivated the safety on her weapon, following to join the fray.

Then, she saw It. A shadow emerging from the flames. The guards didn't hesitate when they saw it, they just fired. Their shots did it no harm, and if they did, it had no effect, because the shadow leaped through the flames, impaling one of the guards through the chest with a sword for its left arm. Its right hand held what appeared to be an oversized pistol; Krystal guessed that it was meant to be to be a sort of two-handed assault rifle. Yet this thing was wielding it single handily.

The terrified Vixen froze with fear as she watched the shadow used the guard impaled on its arm as a shield. Lasers and bullet fire struck the corpse, while the shadow aimed its firearm at the guards. The barrel of the weapon flashed, as Krystal glimpsed the shot as it left a faint trail of distorted air before making contact with a guard. The armour shattered, a small explosion from the shot as it made contact with its target, then shooting through the body to strike another guard behind it.

With a strong swing of its sword arm, the corpse impaled on the blade slid off and landed right in front of Krystal, dead eyes staring up at her. The monster took swing at another guard, its head cut cleanly off, while firing its pistol wielded rifle in a fury.

The voice inside Krystal's mind told her to shoot; this thing was killing these people and would most definitely kill her the moment it saw her, but she couldn't. Instead she ducked inside the cubical on her right, standing above cover to fire a volley of shots at the creature. She could see Panther slowly backing away from the creature, while firing at it in an attempt to do damage. Again Krystal's mind told her to fire on her target, and this time, she complied. Her view of the hostile focused, it was easier notice some detail. Its face was shield by a hood, rendering it nearly impossible to see in the dark, with the exception for what appeared to be bright red eyes.

Whether it was by luck or by skill, she assumed the former; the seem to be assassin dropped its firearm, losing it amongst the chaos. What little joy this would have brought the vixen vanished upon witnessing the creature's next action. She could see the figures right hand swell, its fingers becoming longer until they looked like knives. She watched in horror as the monster jumped and swung its deformed hand across a guard's abdominal, his armour shredded and blood poured through the remains.

Realisation hit Krystal hard upon noticing that most of the guards had been slaughtered, and yet they still continued to fight with such devotion, it could be considered fanatical. However, no matter how hard they fought, this thing struck them down as if they were nothing, until only Krystal and Panther remained.

Panther backed further away, it pushed forward until it was in-between her and Panther, and swung the back of its right hand into the feline. Panther flew over the top of the cubicles, screaming and limbs failing about, before coming into contact with the wall. Krystal attempted to run, but a sudden bump forced her to the ground. Krystal stared up at the creature, its terrifying red eyes glaring down at her from underneath its hood. It raised its sword arm to its chest. The frightened vixen shut her eyes tight, her time had come, and she prayed it would be swift.

Nothing happened.

Cautiously, the vixen opened her eyes to look up at the creature. It continued to stand over her, gasping. Slowly, it lowered its sword arm, Krystal flinched slightly, until it rest by its side. It stumbled backwards until it was against the cubical wall.

Fox stared in horror at what was before him. She was here. She was lying on the floor in front of him, and he had nearly killed her. He could taste bile in his mouth.

The Cerinian vixen refused to take her eyes away from the creature that stood opposite her. It could and should have killed her, but there it was, keeping its distance. Carefully, Krystal attempted to probe its mind. Krystal nearly winced upon connecting with the creatures mind; she felt a sudden rush of emotions that made her head feel like it was about to implode. The strongest of these emotions were anger, hatred and…fear, this thing was afraid of something. She attempted to probe further, but immediately pain erupted throughout her body, as if she was dying and being reborn constantly. Quickly she cut her telepathic connection, what was this thing?

Fox remained frozen in place; _'Why was she here? Why was she here? Why was she here?"_ But the answer was obvious. It was a threat, to tell him what they were possible of, he had attempted to keep her out of this, but they had brought her in without her knowing. The vulpine debated his options, he could flee forget about everything, but that would leave her in Ghost Company's clutches and allow one of his torturers to escape. Or he could reveal himself…NO! That was not an option, he nearly killed her and how could he explain what happened. She had good memories of him, not perfect, but good, he wasn't going to spoil them for her.

"HOSTILE DETECTED! OPEN FIRE!" yelled a voice. Two dozen guards swarmed the room from all sides, a mix of security and mercenaries. Krystal crawled into the boundaries of the cubicle as lasers and bullets bombarded the creature that had spared her.

Fox charged through the thick firepower back to towards the smaller force of guards by the destroyed hatch. Krystal watched as the large group slowly followed at the rampaging terror, constantly firing in an attempt to push it back.

Krystal's mind was crying out for her to leave and find Katt, or Falco, somebody. Never in her life had she been so scared. The security guards ignored her presence, pushing past her and attempting to drive the creature back. Several bright flashes nearly blinded the vixen; she could hear the creature roar in pain. Tears were building in her eyes, the vixen was reaching her emotionally limit. She needed to get away; she quickly reclaimed her weapon and began to leave. She stopped when she saw Panther crawl out of the cubicles.

As much as the vixen wanted to abandon him, she would never be able to live with the guilt. She helped raise the Feline to his feet and the pair limped away from the slaughter that raged on behind them.

-x-x-x-

Pierce waited anxiously in his office, he had heard that the lockdown had been completed and Fox was caught; now all he needed was confirmation whether it had been successful or not. His guards showed signs of agitation, clearly unnerved by the idea putting everything on luck. Cornerian security forces had surrounded the building, but Pierce had advised them to avoid charging in and risk friendly fire.

The red fox's commutator beeped. Everyone held their breath. The vulpine activated the device.

"Report."

"Containment of Hostile has failed! Currently, attempting to hold…" the line broke into static. The guards turned to stare at Pierce, a blank look across his face.

"Contact all units who are not engaged with McCloud to evacuate the building." The arms-dealing CEO ordered.

"Sir, what about Star-Wolf and Star-Falco?"

"We cannot afford to trick Fox into killing them off if it cost us everything we have! He's our biggest problem, not them."

Pierce returned to his desk, opened the top draw on the left and pulling out a small rectangular plastic card and a small pistol. With his needed items in hand, the feline stormed out of his office, his bodyguard following like a shadow. They travelled at a brisk pace through the winding corridors and down a stairwell to ground level, but instead of heading towards the lobby. Pierce headed deeper into the building that had become a death trap for his soldiers. But, there he still had one last trick up his sleeve.

-x-x-x-

Fox stood amongst the remains of destroyed cubicles and dead bodies. He cast his eyes over every body. There was no sign of Krystal. He thought back to her, the look of fear in her eyes as he was on the verge of killing her. It was enough to make his stomach churn.

The sound of footsteps caused Fox's ears to twitch. He snarled and readied his claws. Three robots appeared opposite him, the plates that made up their body were dark grey, their optics glowed bright green, and each one carried a weapon.

Fox charged towards them and took a swing at the closest one with his right claw. However, the robot side stepped the vulpine and fired a shot into his back. Fox yelled as pain screamed across his nervous system. Another robot shot him in the gut, Fox yelled again as he stumbled backwards.

The robots backed away slightly in positions that gave them a clear shot away from Fox's reach. Though slightly disorientated, Fox lunged towards the nearest robot and pushed it into the wall. However, the robot punched Fox in the right side of his face. The vulpine once again stumbled away from the robot, before letting out a roar and making wild swing at the robot. His claws tore across its waist. His attention switched to the other two robots.

Again, Fox lunged for the nearest robot, his mind anticipating it to dodge his attack. He forced the firearm away and was about to strike the robots head. Suddenly, Fox gasped as he felt something pierce his side. He backed away to see a six inch blade jutting out of the robots left wrist, dripping with blood. Fox placed his hand on his side. Immediately, his fingers became sticky with fresh blood. Fox growled as his left arm formed his sword. He jumped forward, and swung his blade at the robots left arm.

He sliced through its elbow, and stabbed the robot through its chest. The last robot grabbed the back Fox's head and left shoulder and slammed him face first in to the wall behind it. Fox forced all of his strength against the robot and knocked it back. Brought out his hook and swung it underneath and pulled off its head. He watched as the head and body fell, sparking and crackling. But there was a whir as the second robot rose feet, with sparks spewing and crackling from its missing arm and stab damage. Fox growled as he approached it, bringing out its claws. Before the robot could aim, Fox grabbed its head and crushed it between his hands. Shards scattered everywhere while he could hear the sound of metal and circuitry being crushed.

Fox let the robots remains drop, clutching his side. His wound healing as he panted. It had been a long night and he was feeling the strain.

"ALL UNITS!" Fox's ears twitched and he looked down. The remains of severed arm lay at his feet, a communicator attached to its wrist. "Evacuation of Mr Pierce is in progress! Report to main entrance to secure escape! Be advised Hostile is still at large!"

Fox processed the information. Pierce was now on the run. All his guards would be there to ensure he got away, Krystal would be there. Fox felt trapped, he risked exposing himself to Krystal, and possibly, Lylat itself. Now, he had a choice to make.

-x-x-x-

Krystal watched as what remained of security escorted Pierce out of the office and into the hands of the Cornerian Defence Force. All that was left of his security team was her, Star Falco, Star Wolf, and roughly about thirty guards remained. Panther had been returned to his team, and was now waiting on medical assistance to reach him. Cornerian Soldiers had closed off both sides of the street, and where awaiting orders to deal with the hostile.

"CONTACT!" screamed a voice from the building's entrance.

**BANG**

The sound of the grenade would have definitely brought all attention towards the office entrance. Within the now dimly lit remains of the lobby, everyone watched as the silhouette of the hostile that had terrorised everyone through the night struck down the four guards in the lobby. Within a minute, all guards had fallen, at the hostile was now casually walking towards them, with a rifle in hand.

Everyone aimed towards the hostile. This was possibly their last stand, even with the Cornerian Defence Force against them, the hostile would not be intimidated. Half a dozen spotlights illuminated the entrance, exposing the target.

Krystal aimed, all of her focus on the target. She could clearly see...She gasped. She blinked. She could not believe her eyes.

"Fox..." she said and lowered her weapon. She must be seeing things.

"DROP YOUR...My God!" One of the soldiers was shouting into a megaphone, and forgot when Fox McCloud stood before him.

Krystal glanced around, one-by-one, the soldiers lowered their weapons, Star Falco lowered their weapons, and even Star Wolf lowered theirs. The look on their faces confirmed it, Krystal was not seeing things. The only people who continued to target Fox, were the Star-Tech security and the other mercenaries.

Fox stared at the crowd before him. Ghost Company had left him a choice, let one of them go, or expose himself. But the choice had been a double edge blade. If he exposed himself, he would expose Ghost Company, something they clearly didn't want. Ghost Company thought they could intimidate him, and Fox was going to prove them wrong.

**I'm sorry this took so FUCKING long. I had a lot of problems and this thing seems to be cursed. It took me THREE tries to write this chapter, because something ALWAYS went wrong and I'm back at square one.**

**Anyway, this was not worth your wait. I'm sorry.**


End file.
